


Xiumin's School for Gifted Youngsters

by SithSorcerer



Category: EXO (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Boarding School, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Is Gay, Evil Super Junior, M/M, OT12 - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Xiumin is Professor X basically, definitely will be smut, everyone has powers, hopefully fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-04-14 19:40:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14143137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SithSorcerer/pseuds/SithSorcerer
Summary: Four years ago the heroes disappeared.Eleven men are about to be drawn back into a life they thought they had abandoned. One of their own has been taken, and they will need to come together like never before to save him. But is saving their friend enough? Will they be able to finally defeat the enemy that forced them into hiding four years ago? Or, will the personal conflicts and individual agendas drive EXO apart once again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I started writing this in December because I saw a video of Chanyeol singing All of Me and then somehow it kept growing into this. I have the first couple of chapters written but its been slow going because of school, so I'll post once a week (probably Thursday/Friday) if I decide to keep this going. Leave a kudos or a comment if you like this so far to keep me motivated to work on it! Constructive criticism is appreciated since I'm not much of a writer (I'm a biology major so sorryyy ahead of time)! EXO of course have their MAMA powers, and everyone's ages are the same! Hope you enjoy!

There used to be heroes.  
They never identified themselves as such, no flashy costumes, no capes, no masked interviews. To the people they protected they were shadows, blurry pictures and videos captured amid epic supernatural battles. They were heroes likened to those of ancient times, citizens of Seoul began to say it was the Second Age of Heroes. Like its predecessor this second age had its limit, the day it had to end.  
It’s been four years since the heroes disappeared.  
The heroes appeared without warning and they vanished just as suddenly. No one could work out why, what had changed to send the heroes into hiding or retirement or whatever name you wanted to give their absence. There are theories, some bland and known to everyone, while others are whispered amongst a select few.  
The heroes, those supernaturally gifted shadows, were trying to live normal, quiet lives. The choice taken from them when the villains finally won. There was no great battle where the forces of good confronted the evil of the world. The enemy silently took control of the world, not through malicious weapons or powers but through money. They own the companies that run the world, pay off those that make the laws, and especially those that enforce the laws.  
Four years ago, every international police agency was put on watch for twelve young men, alleged heads of an international crime organization.  
Soon after the twelve men disappeared from their neighboring apartments in Seoul, and were never heard from again. To avoid detection, the twelve tried to spread as far across the earth as possible, with only vague ideas of how to reach one another in only the direst of circumstances. In truth none of the twelve young men expected to have to try and find the others, and this relieved those amongst them that had grown tired of the never-ending fighting. In many ways each of the boys had adjusted to the loss of their heroic activities and settled into peaceful lives.  
But their enemies will not rest until they are all disposed of, and after four years the twelve men are about to be reminded of this. The world needs them once again, but can these twelve individuals reunite and once again become the one, the only EXO?


	2. I Give You All of Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in each of the first couple of chapters there will be flashbacks which will start and end with ******** because I'm technologically inept and can't figure out how to italicize the flashbacks haha :)

Chapter 1:  
Baekhyun came awake slowly, floating bittersweetly into consciousness from the depths of a deep, restful sleep. He stretched his arms over his head and smiled as he felt warm sunlight shining down on him, restless energy coursing through his veins.  
In the blink of an eye Baekhyun was up and out of his bed, fully free of the lethargy that gripped him everyday after the sunset. Chanyeol likes to point out Baekhyun’s link to the sun is borderline photosynthetic. The tall male then proceeds to coo at Baekhyun calling him his, “Pretty little sunflower,” until Baekhyun starts pinching any available skin. Since the pyromancer has a ridiculously high body temperature he is perpetually dressed for the California summers that drew them to the golden state, meaning miles of skin is available for Baekhyun’s revenge.  
Speak of the devil, Baekhyun thinks as he becomes aware of the noise from the bathroom attached to their modest bedroom. Walking into the quaint, pastel blue bathroom Baekhyun bites his lip as he sees Chanyeol, in the shower, his dark hair plastered to his head as water cascades down his tight body. A body that was swaying, his muscles rippling with the side-to-side movement, as he sings along to some love song on the radio. Baekhyun closes his eyes and takes a moment to enjoy his partner’s rich, strong yet tender voice. Hearing Chanyeol sing so passionately takes Baekhyun back to almost four years ago, to a bar in South Korea.  
***************  
Baekhyun walked into the bar after a long day of looking for work. It had only been about a month since he had last seen the others and at that moment Baekhyun missed his eleven friends acutely. No one was there to pick him up from the gutters where the world had seen fit to drop him after cruelly taking his career, his apartment, his friends, and even his nightly activities away.  
He used to go toe to toe with super powered villains and evil geniuses to save the fucking world. He used to see people everyday going about their lives, free and usually mildly happy, and know it was because of him. Because Byun Baekhyun had been blessed at birth and had parents that taught him that power should be used to uplift others, never to push them down. Now he’s hoping to get a call back about that janitor position at some corporate office building. Maybe that was why he hadn’t left Seoul even though he knew staying there with their enemies actively looking for them. The memories here were too potent to abandon.  
It was safe to say it had been a shit month for Baekhyun, and now all he wanted was a cheap place to douse his inner turmoil with soju. As he spent the next hour practically chugging bottle after bottle Baekhyun remembered one of the biggest downsides to having powers, ridiculously high metabolism. There had only been one drink that had ever given Baekhyun a temporary buzz, and unfortunately it wasn’t soju. He slammed his fifth (or was it sixth?) soju bottle onto his table and groaned as the warm feeling in his gut already began dissipating. He gestured to some employee he wanted another and let his head drop onto his table too.  
The sound of the chair across from his scooting back caused Baekhyun to snap his head up in instinctive alarm. Even now Baekhyun followed the rules him and the others created when they first got started: sit in the back corner, don’t draw attention to yourself, and if anyone tried to approach you get the hell out ASAP. When Baekhyun saw who had taken the second seat at his two-person table he thought that last soju hit him more than he thought because a memory was sitting in front of him.  
Park Chanyeol, his friend since elementary school, the first person he confided in about his powers, the person he experimented with in high school, his best friend who Baekhyun loved with his whole heart. Out of the eleven goodbyes a month ago Chanyeol’s had been the hardest, tempting Baekhyun to follow the taller boy even though they all swore not to. Most days Baekhyun struggled with the temptation to hunt Chanyeol down and never leave his friends’ side again.  
“Baek, can you please say something?” Chanyeol says a concerned look creasing his handsome features.  
“Your hair isn’t red anymore,” Baekhyun blurts, so overcome with questions, memories, and emotions it was the only topic he could handle at the moment. Chanyeol’s face nearly split with the force of his wide, toothy grin and Baekhyun felt his heart skip a beat.  
The pair sat in silence for nearly an hour, Baekhyun consumed only one bottle in that time preferring a clear mind for the rollercoaster Chanyeol’s appearance was about to start. Could they already have found us? Baekhyun thought to himself as he watched Chanyeol who was watching the people perform on stage, are we already doomed?  
Finally, unable to handle the mystery sitting before him Baekhyun erupted with the violence of a volcano, “Chanyeol, what are you doing here? Did something happen? Are you in trouble? Is one of the others in trouble? Did they contact you? Did-” Chanyeol put his hand over Baekhyun’s mouth to stop the flow of sudden questions.  
“No Baek, no one is hurt or in danger. At least, not that I know of,” Chanyeol said his warm palm still pressed against Baekhyun’s lips. “I just…well, you see Baek I…as soon as you left I just…and a couple days later I realized…” Chanyeol removed his hand from Baekhyun’s mouth to run it through his dark hair. Baekhyun’s lips were still warm from the pyromancer’s touch and the older man wanted to hold Chanyeol’s warmth on his skin for as long as possible.  
“I knew this was going to be hard but damn it Baek,” Chanyeol ran his hands through his hair again almost violently, “I’m not that good with words but I think I know just the way to tell you what I’m feeling.” Without another word Chanyeol stood up and moved toward the small performance stage which was just vacated. He exchanged a whispered word with the man on the side holding a clipboard. After a few seconds the other man nodded and Chanyeol climbed onto the stage.  
The stage was large enough to fit a small piano in the corner and have a small open space for small groups to move around comfortably. Chanyeol strode up the stage and sat on the piano bench, the man with the clipboard maneuvered the microphone so it was level with Chanyeol’s mouth.  
The tall man straightened his back, rolled his shoulders, cleared his throat then spoke quietly into the microphone, “This is for you B.” Then he began to play, his fingers gliding across the keys as a familiar tune filled the air. As the notes echoed in the now nearly silent bar Chanyeol began to sing, maintaining eye contact with Baekhyun.  
Baekhyun had seen Chanyeol do karaoke enough times to know the younger man had a beautiful voice. But, in that bar in Seoul after what had been a shit day, Chanyeol’s voice seemed positively angelic.  
“You’re crazy and I’m out of my mind. Cause all of me loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections.” Baekhyun felt warm, not like when he used his power and felt the warmth of the light, like being near a light bulb that’s been on too long, this was an inferno that rivaled any that he had ever seen.  
“You’re my end and my beginning.” Baekhyun and Chanyeol had both confessed their powers to the other in Baekhyun’s last year of middle school. Even though they had been friends for some time then, that was the moment they truly became friends. As they explored their powers together the duo had felt unstoppable, that if they could continue like that for the rest of their lives they would be happy.  
“Cards on the table we’re both showing hearts. Risking it all though it’s hard, cause all of me loves all of you.” Chanyeol had once told Baekhyun he always felt like he was on fire, and when he let that fire out, let it dance across his skin, he felt alive. This must be how that feels, Baekhyun thinks as his body continues to warm, he can practically feel the flames licking his insides, begging to be set free. Once the final note fell the bar erupted into applause, some even giving a standing ovation. Baekhyun realized he and Chanyeol had been looking at each other the whole time, and then Baekhyun fled.  
He dashed to the back of the bar and out of the back exit into the little alleyway filled with garbage. Even in the cold Seoul night air Baekhyun felt the fire raging inside himself, but he didn’t want it to stop. Not a minute later the door Baekhyun had just exited through opened and closed again and a hand grabbed his shoulder. It was like the fire was finally released from inside Baekhyun. Before he even realized what was happening Baekhyun had turned and smashed his mouth against Chanyeol’s. The taller man pushed him back until his back hit a wall, his hands groping Baekhyun’s thighs until the man had wrapped his legs around Chanyeol’s waist. Their kisses were borderline frantic as they sought to press their lips to any piece of skin they could reach, mouths, cheeks, chin, neck. Everywhere they touched burned in the most pleasant way, the heat accentuated by the cold brick digging into Baekhyun’s back. Despite the uncontrolled rush of sensations and feelings Baekhyun felt alive, his skin buzzed with overly sensitive nerves, he felt happy, at peace despite the urgency, complete, and everything cheesy they write about in romance novels. He clutched Chanyeol, his Chanyeol, tighter as they pressed their mouths and bodies together and it was the perfect moment.  
*********************  
Warm, wet arms sliding around Baekhyun’s torso tore him from his perfect memory into, in his opinion, the perfect reality. Baekhyun smiles and presses a kiss to Chanyeol’s collarbone, inhaling his freshly washed scent mingled with the faint smell of a campfire. Chanyeol pressed his face into the top of Baekhyun’s head and the pair stood like that in the overly bright and cheery bathroom in their one-bedroom house in Southern California. A long way from the alley behind a Seoul bar almost four years ago.  
“If we didn’t have to go to work today I would be tempted to ask you to join me for another shower, make sure we’re both squeaky clean,” Chanyeol spoke into Baekhyun’s hair.  
The smaller man pulled back and grinned impishly up at his partner, “So you’re not tempted right now? Not even a little bit?” As he spoke his hands wandered down from the broad shoulders, over firm pecs still damp from the water, and even over the impressive abdominal muscles. Every inch of warm skin burned hotter at his touch and Baekhyun’s grin stretched until his face threatened to crack. The photokinetic knew he was, literally, playing with fire as he felt the other man’s interest pressing against his body.  
Chanyeol grinned wolfishly at Baekhyun and began to move his own hands over the smaller, but no less defined, torso. He leaned down torturously slow, the way he knows Baekhyun likes, and was about to brush their lips together when their doorbell rang. Chanyeol groaned and Baekhyun laughed, unwrapping himself from the embrace and moving towards the front of their house to answer the door.  
Chanyeol continued grumbling as he put on some shorts and a shirt, he wanted to go give the asshole at the door a lecture before he got ready for work. He was halfway across their bedroom when heard Baekhyun give a shout of surprise. Chanyeol was out of the room, down the hallway and into the living room in the next few breaths, his fear forming a knot in the pit of his stomach. They were prepared for this, they could handle whatever henchmen had found them.  
He paused in the doorway to the living room, unsure what exactly he was seeing. Baekhyun stood in the center of their small living room, and standing in front of him were two young men. They were dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts, and they looked a few years younger than Chanyeol and Baekhyun. What stopped Chanyeol was that one of the boys, slightly taller than his friend with black hair and handsome features, had his arm extended and held in his hand was a picture. The picture showed twelve young men crammed around one couch, arms around shoulders, people sitting on other’s laps, smiles on every man’s face. Among the faces Chanyeol had not seen for years were his and Baekhyun’s, younger but theirs nonetheless.  
“Chanyeol…” Baekhyun whispered as he glanced between his partner and the photo.  
“You two need to come with us, you’re not safe here anymore,” the other boy spoke. He had grey hair and one earing and despite his young age his tone of voice indicated he was used to having others listen to him.  
In the blink of an eye both of Chanyeol’s hands were holding fireballs and we was standing next to Baekhyun. A few quick fireballs for coverfire should buy them enough time to turn and get out through the back door in the kitchen, grab their emergency escape packs, and flee in their car. If they were pursued they would have to get to a public place, try and get lost in a crowd. People could get hurt but, call him selfish, Chanyeol only cared that Baekhyun was kept safe and free.  
“Woah, woah, hold on a minute,” Photo Boy said holding his hands up in surrender. “We’re friends! We were sent here to retrieve you and bring you to safety by a mutual friend.”  
“How do we know we can trust you? Who sent you and where do you propose we go to be ‘safe’?” Baekhyun asked one of his hands gripping the back of Chanyeol’s shirt, ready to pull him out of the line of fire if things turned violent.  
“We have proof,” the second boy said pulling out an envelope from his back pocket. Slowly he bent over and slid it across the hardwood floors to the older pair. Baekhyun bent down and picked the envelope up while Chanyeol continued to eye the younger duo, two fireballs still aflame in his hands.  
Baekhyun opened the envelope and a small square piece of paper slid out into his palm. There was one word written on the piece of paper and even though it had been years since he had last seen this handwriting Baekhyun had no doubt he knew who the author was. He tapped Chanyeol’s back twice, signaling to his partner that he should stand down. With a flick of his wrists Chanyeol put out the fires in his hands and turned to look at the paper Baekhyun held. When he saw the one word written on the paper his eyes widened almost comically, only twelve people in the world would know this word and the significance it held.  
“Okay, you’ve earned yourself provisional trustworthy status,” Baekhyun said as he too relaxed. “But I’m still curious, why would Xiumin send strangers to help us? We agreed not to contact each other unless it was the absolute worst-case scenario.”  
“And yet here two of you are, seeming very much in contact,” Photo Boy said with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. Baekhyun choked on his laughter as Chanyeol blushed and sputtered, which only made his partner laugh even more.  
The light mood ended just as quickly as it had started, as the sound of many car doors being slammed shut reach the four male’s ears. Other Boy, as Baekhyun has decided to dub Photo Boy’s companion, moved to the windows in the front of the house and peered through. What he saw made him curse, and as he turned to address the others in the room a bullet shattered the window and hit Other Boy.  
For a moment Baekhyun and Chanyeol were frozen, sent back to when they were shot at regularly, when they were different people. They waited in horror for the young boy to fall, a sign they are no longer the heroes they once were. They failed this boy after only a few minutes. That moment never came. Other Boy shook his head and closed the curtains before turning to face his companion.  
“Vernon, I think it's time to start the getaway car if you know what I mean,” he said to Photo Boy (Vernon Baekhyun noted mentally). Vernon nodded, planted his legs, and held his arms out in front of him. His face contorted with concentration and sparks began to fly from his fingertips. Other Boy spoke again, “This won’t take long, I suggest you gather anything important and be quick about it.”  
With the mindless speed that came from paranoia induced practice Baekhyun and Chanyeol gathered their bags, grabbed some food, and a box Baekhyun had kept in the back of their closet. By the time the pair returned to the living room no more than a minute later there was a sparking circle in the middle of the living room. Shouting outside the house told the quartet they were out of time, but Chanyeol and Baekhyun still hesitated a moment.  
They shared a look and knew they shared the same thoughts. These boys were still strangers, and there was the chance they were being led into an elaborate trap, one they may not survive. But, perhaps even scarier than that, was the thought that this was real, that they were about to be dragged from their blissful life into a fight they had lost four years ago. If Xiumin was trying to reach them then there was no doubt in either of their minds that it was to fight. Could they really just step back into that life? For the first month of their separation it was all both had wanted, until they got together and got what they truly wanted.  
Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and gave him his usual smile, because even if their doom was waiting on the other side of that portal they were going to fight like hell together until the very end. Squeezing the other’s hand Baekhyun and Chanyeol stepped through the portal, with Vernon and Other Boy right on their heels.  
When the men Other Boy had seen through the window came bursting into the small house in Southern California they found it empty. The only sign of the previous occupants were scorch marks on the hardwood floor and a piece of paper, blank except for one word written in black ink: EXO.


	3. Jongdae Is On Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EXO-CBX is about to comeback and I'm not ready, then again are any of us ever ready? After this chapter I feel like things really pick up so if I'm really productive this weekend I might post again Monday...

Chapter 2:  
Kim Jongdae missed being a hero.  
He missed the adrenaline of using his power, the camaraderie of being part of a team, and the adulation of millions even if they never knew his name or face.  
When their band of heroes was forced to separate and go underground Jongdae had figured it would be a temporary situation until the others were ready to face their enemies. He kept this hope for the first two and a half years of their separation, until a mass shooting in America captured headlines. Not because mass shootings were becoming rarer, but because the shooter had been stopped by an invulnerable man.  
Jongdae had never met a man who had bullets bounce off him like it was no problem, and it made him realize he had never thought about others. People beyond his band of twelve young crime fighters with special gifts who would want to use them to make the world better, even if just for a moment. And in their absence those people were stepping up, a new generation of heroes was rising and Jongdae felt…forgotten.  
If there were new people able to do what he and his friends could not do anymore then why would they ever reunite? Why would the world need EXO when they couldn’t even protect themselves?  
After that Jongdae had a bit of an identity crisis. Among all his friends Jongdae had had his power the longest, he could barely remember a time when he didn’t have it. Being in hiding, suppressing the part of him that instinctively used his power, wasn’t a temporary state. Jongdae had to decide if he could handle leaving that part of himself in the past or if he was going to venture out on his own.  
Then a fire nearly burned his hotel in London down.  
As childish as it sounds when Jongdae saw the firefighters in action he knew there was a way for him to covertly return to heroism. With some less than savory contacts Jongdae created a new identity in London, became a civil servant, and got himself put on fire service. For nearly a year and a half Jongdae has felt almost normal again, but at night he remembers the way things used to be.  
Even though Jongdae had his power the longest he didn’t begin to really test his limits until his high school years, much like the others. They started off as individuals, except for Baekhyun and Chanyeol who even then were a packaged deal, until they all met in Seoul as college students. His solo days were a fond memory for Jongdae but those few years in Seoul with the others as they found more like them every year were some of his favorite memories.  
He remembered when they became EXO, the night they welcomed the last and youngest members, Sehun and Jongin, into the fold.  
The two had just moved to Seoul for university and had tried to use their powers when a bar fight broke out, and Luhan and Kyungsoo had been there to see it. After some covert observations of the two boys (“We’re stalking them guys,” “Shut up Jongdae we’re doing recon”). The group had approached and explained things to Sehun and Jongin separately, and after a few days to think things over, they went from ten to twelve.  
***********  
As was tradition they ordered takeout and had a get together in one of their two neighboring apartments. Everyone was scattered on the couches and the floor, speaking loudly if they weren’t too busy eating.  
Sehun brought the topic up, “So do you guys have a name?” he asked looking at Luhan who was leaning on the youngest’s shoulder. Even though Sehun and Jongin had just joined up with them they had fit right in with the rest of the guys. Even Baekhyun was already biting Sehun, his weird way of showing affection Jongdae was not eager to be on the receiving end of.  
“We’ve tried to come up with one before, but we never really found anything that didn’t make us cringe,” Chanyeol said from the floor where he had been fighting over food with The Bitter himself.   
“Hey! I made a great suggestion last time, but no one could appreciate the genius of my work,” Baekhyun protested (yelled).True to his nickname he then proceeded to nip Chanyeol’s fingers until he let go of the piece of chicken.  
“We are not calling ourselves Big B and his Bitches,” Yifan groaned from across the room, and several heads bobbed in agreement.  
“It couldn’t hurt to try again, right?” Jongin asked turning to Kyungsoo who sat next to him, giving the older an innocent puppy smile even Satansoo couldn’t resist. He might be blind but Jongdae figured if he wasn’t and felt the full force of Jongin’s puppy look, at sch close proximity, the smaller man would get a nosebleed.   
“Of course, it couldn’t hurt,” Kyungsoo said with a meaningful look around the room. “Did you have something in mind already?”  
“Well, its something I used to think about when I was little, see I thought maybe my powers came from another planet,” Jongin said, uncomfortable now that everyone was focused on him. “I never knew anyone from earth who could do things like I could, so I thought maybe I wasn’t from earth. Maybe I was part of an alien race and somehow ended up switched with an earth baby. Or maybe there was alien DNA in my family and it gives me my power.”  
“That’s adorable, I can just imagine little Jongin looking up at the sky and thinking he’s part alien,” Baekhyun cooed. He crawled over Chanyeol, which made the taller man blush, and tried to pinch Jongin’s cheeks, which the poor boy unsuccessfully tried to fight off. Then Kyungsoo started hitting Baekhyun’s arm until he retreated to his spot on the floor next to Chanyeol, pouting the whole way.   
“So, what, we call ourselves Alien?” Tao asked as he dropped onto the couch next to Sehun, trying to take some of the newest member’s food. After some half assed nudging Sehun gave in and gave Tao some of his chicken.  
“We could name ourselves after this far off planet we’re supposedly from,” Jongdae spoke up for the first time on the subject. He had taken residence spread out on the floor by the couch Joonmyun and Yixing shared. Well the couch Joonmyun shared with a passed out Yixing. Two lab quizzes and a midterm this week on top of their nightly activities meant the poor guy was more exhausted than usual.   
Jongdae would never admit it out loud, but Joonmyun and Yixing were adorable. Whenerv Yixing fell asleep near Joonmyun, which was almost always, the guy would sit completely still, not moving or speaking to avoid waking the Chinese man up. At the moment Yixing had his head in Joonmyun’s lap and he was running his hand through his newly dyed blonde hair.   
“Did you ever come up with a name Jongin?” Tao asked after swalling another mouthful of Sehun’s chicken.   
“It’s probably lame but I used to call it EXO planet,” Jongin said, “the prefix exo is used to indicate something from the outside. Like exothermic reactions, heat is released to the outside environment. And since I came from outside earth I figured I’d call my ‘home’ the outside I came from. I don’t think I’m explaining this well,” Jongin grabbed one of the bottles of soju they had and chugged it to cover his embarrassment. With their metablisms Jongdae doubted Jongin felt any sort of buzz after drinking the whole bottle, but that didn’t stop them all from trying every now and then.  
“So, would that make us Exoans? Cause just EXO sounds pretty badass to me,” Baekhyun said.  
“I second that,” Chanyeol said with his goofy smile as he raised his hand, “EXO kicks ass and takes names.”  
Slowly the other’s hands also went up until it was unanimous, minus the still passed out Yixing, their group finally had a name, EXO.  
Jongin’s grin was ridiculously big as he made everyone swear they actually liked the name and weren’t just being nice.  
“Psh,” Jongdae scoffed, “If Yifan didn’t like your idea he’d tell you. ‘EXO’s not my style’.” Everyone laughed as Jongdae deepened his voice and mocked the older man, which he took in stride. It was a peaceful moment until Jongdae’s phone buzzed.  
Pulling it out of his pocket he saw it was their missing member, Minseok. “Minnie are you finally off work? You have to stop taking the graveyard shift! Oh, but guess what, we finally have a name,” Jongdae rambled as he answered his phone.  
“Jongdae listen, I need your help. There’s people following me, I think, I can’t be sure, but I don’t want to go back to the apartment until I’m sure,” Minseok spoke quietly and urgently over the phone.  
Jongdae’s smile fell into a solemn frown, “Tell me where you are Minseok, I’m coming for you.”  
***************  
The blaring of an alarm startled Jongdae awake, and after a disoriented moment where he thought he was still in that apartment in Seoul, Jongdae was up and getting ready to fight a fire. He quickly suited up and boarded the engine which blew out of the station like a bat out of a cave. They only had to travel a few blocks before they reached the building engulfed in massive flames.  
Jongdae quickly put more gear on while the others prepared the hose. Once he had the last of the equipment on he and another firefighter entered the burning building. As soon as they entered Jongdae realized the fire was much worse than they had first thought, which was unfortunate since it already looked perilous.   
As he turned to tell this to his partner a portion of the ceiling collapsed right above them. The two firefighters dove in opposite directions, and by the time debris stopped falling from above the door they had entered through was blocked and Jongdae had lost sight of his fellow firefighter. Jongdae coughed and realized his mask had been jostled enough to allow smoke-filled air in.  
Before Jongdae could figure out what his next step was a shadow moved in his peripheral. When he turned to look he got a decent knock to the face. The impact of the blow sent his head reeling, and Jongdae nearly fell to the floor. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and turned to face his attacker. Instead of a man as he had expected he came face to face with a rock, a living, breathing rock.  
Rocky pulled his arm back, preparing to strike again. Jongdae acted instinctually, throwing his hands out and watching as electricity spewed from them. It surprised Rocky, but it wasn’t actual lightning he summoned from the sky, meaning it wasn’t as strong as it could have been. Judging by the way Rocky barely paused at the attack it hadn’t been enough to hurt the big lug.  
Instead of getting ready to punch again Rocky bitch slapped Jongdae, and the firefighter had to wait a moment before he stopped seeing double. With a sinking feeling Jongdae realized he was doomed, and it would be so easy for Rocky to make it look it was just an accident. No doubt he would go after one of the others next, and they would be totally oblivious. How many of his friends had this boulder already taken out? Stone colliding with his face knocked the questions from Jongdae’s mind.  
Jongdae took a few more hits from Rocky before he collapsed to the burning floor, barely able to lift his head. He saw Rocky moving closer, his boulder-like hands flexing in a way that made Jongdae grimace. This is it, he thought grimly, I’m not gonna make it out of here and this bastard will probably go after one of the others next. The thought infuriated him, but when he tried to get up, to fight, Jongdae’s head spun and he almost vomited.  
In the far corner of the room Jongdae thought he saw a hole opening, not a hole in the wall but a burning window that showed a bright white room. How hard did this bastard hit me? Jongdae thought as Rocky continued to approach, his back to the window so he didn’t see the two figures step through it.  
Jongdae closed his eyes, tired of the hallucinations, and waited. He waited for a few minutes before he opened his eyes in annoyance, if this asshole was going to kill him he should be decent enough to do it quickly? When he opened his eyes Jongdae’s annoyance was replaced with confusion. Rocky stood only a couple feet away, his body slightly turned like someone had pressed pause in the middle of him doing an about face.  
A boy stood next to Rocky, his hand touching the stone that made up the creature’s arm. Maybe it was the trauma to Jongdae’s head, but the boy was too blurry to make out any distinct features beyond his dark hair and well-muscled build. Jongdae also thought he saw another person behind the frozen Rocky, but something else drew his attention from the second stranger.  
The flaming room was also different, in fact it was slowly being covered with ice of all things. Jongdae only knew one person who could do such amazing things with ice, but it couldn’t be. He hadn’t seen that man for almost four years and had thought he would never see him again. Thinking about it made Jongdae’s head pound even more, and his eyelids were so heavy Jongdae realized as he struggled to keep them open and watch the second blurry figure. Ice seemed to seep from the shadowy figure, not in an ominous way but instead it made Jongdae think of the first snow of the year, it teemed with energy and joy.  
Now I know my head is fucked up, Jongdae thought to himself as the throbbing in his skull became more prominent.   
With a sigh Jongdae finally let his eyes close, and the last thing he heard was a familiar, comforting voice whisper, “Don’t worry Dae, I came for you.”


	4. Adventures of the China Sheep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next one were supposed to be one chapter but when I wrote it they got too long so I broke it up. My first real attempt at an action scene is in the next one so I'll probably go over once a day until it's not completely terrible lol. Also, just out of curiosity, is school kicking anyone else's ass? Cause I'm one strong breeze away from falling apart :)

Chapter 3:  
Yixing was a great doctor.

Ever since he graduated from medical school, while still finding time to keep Seoul safe with his friends/roommates/teammates, his mentors had said he had a once in a generation talent for healing. Yixing wasn’t inclined to disagree with them, but it seemed unfair when he could wave his hands over someone for a few minutes and heal them.  
Yixing was, and will always be, a healer. He was never a fighter like the others, but he still felt compelled to do good whenever he could. Long days of schooling, working, and long sleepless nights of healing his idiot friends turned Yixing into a bit of an insomniac. Even four years after those night time activities were permanently suspended the Chinese man can’t seem to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. He tried to take a lot of the night shifts in the ER because of this, but even he needed a mental break every now and then.

This was one such night, Yixing sat curled up on his couch in his apartment in Hong Kong, reading. Since everyone had agreed Seoul was probably too dangerous to stay in Yixing had decided he would return to his mother country and dive into anonymity in one of the large cities. Adjusting had been hard at first, he had lost amazing friends and even though Yixing knew at least one other person had probably ended up in China he felt so alone. 

But after a few months Yixing adjusted. He started working at a hospital, started healing again, and he made small connections with his coworkers. All in all, Yixing would say he was mostly happy in Hong Kong. He missed his friends: the first members Minseok, Luhan, Kris, Joonmyun, even the loud mouthed Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Jongdae, quiet Kyungsoo, and the young brats Tao, Jongin, and Sehun. While he missed his friends Yixing did not miss being a hero, he didn’t miss the violence it entailed, and he didn’t miss the perpetual fear his friends would return with an injury he couldn’t heal.

Yixing shut his book and put it down on the couch beside him. He was feeling nostalgic tonight, and there was only one thing he could do on nights like these. Yixing moved into his small bedroom and prodded around the back of his closet until he found the box he was looking for. It was wooden, about the size of a soccer ball, with a unicorn carved into the lid. Feeling the box’s weight in his hands and seeing the familiar carving brought a smile to Yixing’s lips. He sat down on his bedroom floor and began to rifle through the box.

The first thing he pulled from within the box was a photo, a little faded from repeated handling but still in great condition. In the photo Yixing stood next to Joonmyun who had one arm thrown over his shoulder as they both gave the camera thumbs up. Yixing recognized the apartment Luhan, Kris, and Minseok had shared when he and Joon had first met them. Ironically Joon had been living in the apartment next door since his family could afford to have him live alone in a complex close to his school’s campus. Yixing had met Joon first at university, then the two had found themselves mixed up with Joon’s neighbors.

Yixing’s smile grew as he recalled the memories.

******************

Yixing was hopelessly lost on his first day of university. He couldn’t find the science building and he had his first chemistry class in ten minutes. He was really starting to regret falling asleep during orientation. Yixing groaned in defeat, looks like he was going to have to swallow his pride and ask someone for help.

Scanning the crowd Yixing saw a man about his age sitting on a bench nearby, texting. His dark hair looked soft, and Yixing thought his eyes seemed kind enough, at least they did when they paused from their frantic scanning of the phone in his hand.

With a deep, fortifying breath Yixing approached the handsome man, “Excuse me, I’m really lost, and I have class soon, do you think you can point me in the direction of the science building?” Yixing asked when he stood in front of the man. He hadn’t looked up since Yixing had spoken some time ago and it was making him uncomfortable.

He was ready to quit and return to his quarters when the other boy finally looked up, “I’m afraid I’m just as lost as you are. I was trying to pull up a map of the campus, but my phone is being uncooperative.” The sheepish smile the boy had as he waved his phone between their two bodies made Yixing’s heart beat faster, the boy was frustratingly adorable.

“I’m Yixing,” he said holding his hand out to the other boy who continued to smile as he shook Yixing’s hand.

“I’m Joonmyun,” he said and gestured for Yixing to sit next to him on the bench. After a moment of hesitation Yixing did, Joonmyun seemed nice enough and Yixing was beginning to accept he would be late to his first class.

“Maybe we can try looking up the map on my phone?” Yixing asked holding up the device in question. Joonmyun nodded enthusiastically. As Yixing pulled up a new internet tab Joonmyun shuffled closer, Yixing felt his minty breath gently brush along his neck and cheek. Focus on the task at hand Yixing, the responsible half of his brain chided. When a campus map was successfully pulled up and both boys had found their destinations Yixing was pleased to see the buildings were neighbors. 

“Should we head over together?” Joonmyun asked standing up from the bench and stretching. Yixing nodded as the less responsible half of his brain appreciated how the shirt stretched over the boy’s shoulders, and the slight flexing of his forearms as he hefted his bag up with him.

The walk was rather long, the boys had to walk all the way across campus unfortunately, but Yixing didn’t mind. He had been concerned about fitting in at a Korean university and he was glad that he had met someone as nice as Joonmyun on the first day. Their conversation flowed easily as they crossed the campus, in no hurry despite their tardiness.

They saw Yixing’s building first and before they said goodbye Joonmyun spoke, “Would you want to get lunch after class? I live not far away and was looking for a reason to use my new kitchen.” Yixing tried to smile and nod nonchalantly but based on Joonmyun’s subsequent laugh he probably didn’t succeed.

Yixing was five minutes late to his chemistry class, but he had stopped caring a while ago. And all he could think about during the class was his impending plans with Joonmyun.  
***************** Yixing smiled wistfully at the photo, meeting Joonmyun had been a stroke of good luck, maybe even fate. Yixing and Joon shared the parental duties in their friend group, taking care of the others in whatever way they could, usually physically for Yixing and financially for Joonmyun, even though a few of them were older than the pair.

Early on in their friendship Yixing hadn’t had the purest of intentions, he had been more than willing to play doctor with Joonmyun. Yixing had just worked up the courage to tell Joon about his feelings when his world had been turned upside down by Joon’s neighbors.

******************

Yixing made the familiar walk into Joon’s building, smiling at the passing faces that were also becoming familiar. He had been over to Joonmyun’s apartment almost everyday for the past two and a half weeks. He arrived outside Joon’s door and knocked, fiddling with the grocery bag in his hand while he waited for his friend. Tonight was the night, he had decided, he was going to confess to Joonmyun and hope for a good outcome whether his feelings were returned or not.

“I told you guys to leave me the hell alon-” Joonmyun was yelling as he opened the door, visibly upset until he saw Yixing on the other side of the door.

Yixing raised his eyebrows, “Okay then, I guess I’ll just take the food and be on my way,” he teased wanting to make the other boy feel better. When Joon smiled at him Yixing felt elated that it seemed to have worked.

“I guess since you brought all the food the least I can do is invite you and make you a good dinner,” Joonmyun teased as he stepped back to let Yixing into his apartment.

“The food you asked for, you’re lucky I didn’t mind stopping by the store after class or you would have actually had to have gone grocery shopping yourself.” Yixing responded as he slipped off his shoes.

The pair fell into their usual routine, as Joonmyun made dinner Yixing sat in the living room and worked on his homework. Yixing usually had lab and later classes than Joonmyun so the business student did his homework until Yixing came over. Then he would make dinner for two while Yixing did his homework, they would eat, and continue to work until one of them needed a break. During this break they usually watched a drama or movie depending on how late it was. Sometimes it would get so late Yixing would sleep over on the couch, but this had only really happened right before his first chemistry exam when he didn’t want to stop studying to commute to his own apartment.

As they ate the meal Joon had prepared Yixing decided to ask the question that had been bothering him since he arrived, “Who did you think I was earlier? When you answered the door?”

Joonmyun sighed, “I thought you were my neighbors, they’ve…well, they’ve been bothering me a lot lately. They kept trying to talk to me earlier right before you got here,” the other boy ran his hand roughly through his dark hair. Yixing nodded absentmindedly as his mind began to wonder towards fantasies of his own running through the soft hair, probably while Joonmyun was being preoccupied with something else. That’s a tempting thought, Yixing’s hormonal mind thought as he continued fantasizing.

“Xing!” Joon yelled, his face right in front of Yixing’s which nearly gave the Chinese man a heart attack. His heart beat frantically and his face warmed, there was no way Joon could know what Yixing had been thinking but he felt guilty nonetheless. “Where do you go when you zone out like that Xing?” Joon asked, an affectionate curl twist to his mouth.

Yixing’s heart went from frantic to downright manic, this was his moment. Yixing opened his mouth, the words, “I think about you, and me, about us,” right on the tip of his tongue when a knock sounded on his door.

“If that’s my neighbors again I swear I’m going to call the building manager and complain,” Joon growled as he stood up, “Wait here Xing.”

Yixing wasn’t exactly in the listening mood as he fled to the bathroom, his face still tomato red and heart beating out of control. He closed the door and splashed cold water on his face, trying to take deep breaths until his blood stopped roaring in his ears. Yixing looked at his reflection over the mirror, water droplets still sliding down his face, but his coloring had also returned to normal.

Yixing frowned, he could hear noises from outside the bathroom. Raised voices and clattering of objects as they hit the walls or floor. Had Joonmyun’s neighbors turned out to be violent? Should he go out and try to help his friend? What good could he do? Yixing glanced down at his hands, at the very least he knew he could help Joonmyun if his neighbors hurt him. Resolved, Yixing squared his shoulders, gripped the door handle, and exited the bathroom, heading straight for the living room.

What Yixing saw in the living room stopped him dead in his tracks. Three men stood in a semicircle around Joonmyun. The one farthest to the right and closest to Yixing was a lean man with feminine beauty and large, deer-like eyes. In the air around him hovered plates, cups, chopsticks, and many other small objects. The man in the middle standing directly across from Joonmyun looked like a teenager, but his hard cat-like eyes spoke of experience, not youth. This man seemed to emit mist, and the area directly around him was covered in shiny ice. The last man was incredibly tall, although his exact height was hard to figure out since he was hovering in the air. As Yixing stood in the doorway the three strangers all turned to look at him, which made Joonmyun turn as well.

Yixing felt his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets, because as Joonmyun turned to face him Yixing saw that balls of water hovered above his hands, “Yixing!” Joonmyun exclaimed in surprise, dropping his hands to his side which caused the water to drop onto the floor.

“Who is he?” Floating man asked with narrowed eyes focused on Yixing, and the boy wished he could shrink so everyone would stop looking at him.

“He’s my friend, and I’m going to have to ask you three to leave,” Joonmyun said his voice hard, unflinching.

“How do we know we can trust him?” Cat Eyes asked pointing his finger accusingly at Yixing. After he pointed ice flew from his finger, sailing directly towards Yixing’s chest.  
“No!” Joonmyun yelled as he turned, trying to reach Yixing first, and failing as the finger-sized icicle pierced Yixing’s shoulder.

The young man dropped to the floor, and a small puddle of blood began to form as the room became completely silent. After a moment of staring in stunned horror Joonmyun moved, he reach Yixing and tried to assess the situation.

“Yixing? Yixing? Xing, are you okay? Talk to me Xing!” Joonmyun cried hysterically as his friend laid, unresponsive on the floor. Joonmyun would later tell Yixing that while he had been passed out Luhan, Minseok, and Yifan had approached and tried to help, help Joonmyun had fought ardently.

While the four men were busy bickering Yixing finally came to, and realized the past ten minutes hadn’t been a bad dream. He had been stabbed with an icicle that came from some random stranger’s body. Yixing didn’t have time to think about what this meant, not only were there others with abilities like him but fucking Joonmyun was one too, he knew he first needed to take care of his injury.

“Joon…” Yixing croaked, “Joon take it out.”

Joonmyun snapped his head towards the friend he cradled in his arms, “What? Xing if we take it out you might bleed out. We need to call someone right?”

“And how would you explain that he was stabbed with ice?” Cat Eye exclaimed, “We’ll have to take care of this ourselves, besides the ice will melt before he would get to the hospital.”

“Everyone, SHUT UP!” Yixing yelled, which caused him flinch as the icicle impaling him shifted. Damn this is some sharp ice, he thought admiring the edge of the icicle not obscured by his flesh. “Joonmyun I need you to take the icicle out and let me take care of this,” Yixing pleaded with his friend, meeting his gaze head on. Trust me, trust me, he tried to tell his friend mentally, and felt elated when Joonmyun sighed in defeat before quickly pulling the icicle out of Yixing’s chest.

Yixing sucked in a breath, it hurt just as much going out as it had going in, but he didn’t have time to cry about it. Yixing lifted his hand and pressed it to the wound on his chest, feeling his own warm blood start to seep from the hole. Yixing pressed his hand harder against the injury and finally felt the warmth build in his hand that indicated his power was working. Yixing looked up at Joonmyun who was watching in wide eyed amazement as Yixing began to heal himself. Yixing could see the faint green glow that accompanied any use of his power reflected in Joonmyun’s gaze.

Finally, after a few minutes Yixing felt his hand return to normal. After some experimental movements of his should Yixing felt confident that he was physically in great shape, although he did feel like he needed an equally great cat nap to be one hundred percent.

“Looks like you both are some very interesting people,” Deer Eye says from above the two friends who were staring right into the other’s eyes. “Something tells me we’re going to get along great,” he continued with an impish smile.

Yixing’s hand moved to his shoulder, he couldn’t feel the scar through his ratty t-shirt, but he knew it was there, faint but still there. Yixing and Joonmyun’s relationship with Luhan, Yifan, and Minseok had been rough at first, both parties suspicious and guarded. Once Yixing found out the three older men had been doing some vigilante work he dropped his guard, the inexperienced trio often ended their nights out with cuts and broken bones. They needed Yixing more than they were willing to admit, and once Yixing got drawn into their group Joonmyun followed close behind.

******************

Bang! Bang! Yixing jerked on his bedroom floor. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three more loud bangs on his front door drew Yixing from his room, who could it possibly be at this time of night? Looking through the peephole Yixing felt a cold wave wash over him, banging on his door at one in the morning was Joonmyun holding a visibly bleeding Tao in his arms.  
Yixing hesitated to open the door, he wasn’t a fighter, had never loved being a hero like some of the others. And he was happy now, the happiest he had been in the last four years, and opening the door would send all that straight to hell.

Tao moaned and Yixing’s grip on the door knob tightened, you’re no fighter, his mind whispered, but you damn well know that you’re a healer. Before he could think better of it Yixing yanked open his front door and pulled Joonmyun and his burden into his apartment.


	5. Drink Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things: 1) Sorry this is late! It was a hectic week with school and yesterday was my roommate's 21st birthday so of course the celebration got a little...wild O_O  
> 2) Thank you to everyone reading this! This probably isn't the most well-written fan fiction out there but I have fun writing it and I hope you guys enjoy reading it!

Chapter 4:  
“Xing, there’s no time to explain, but you need to help Tao right now,” Joonmyun said, straight to business.

“Get him on the couch, and I’ll get towels to staunch his blood loss. This is going to be a long night, so you’ll have plenty of time to explain what the hell is going on,” Yixing said the last part with more force than he had intended. If Joonmyun was put off he didn’t show it but instead silently got Tao situated on the sofa, staining the brown material with dark drops of blood.

Yixing returned with the towels to find Joonmyun unwrapping the makeshift bandage on the gut injury currently causing Tao to bleed out. Yixing came and took stock of the situation, the wound was a few inches wide so whatever had struck the boy was large and powerful.

“Does he have an exit wound?” Yixing asked even as he titled the younger boy onto his side to he could check for himself. Surely enough a similarly large exit wound provided another source of blood. Yixing cursed as he saw the exit wound would line up with the kidneys, if Yixing didn’t fix the internal damage as soon as possible Tao wouldn’t last much longer.

Unable to put it off any longer Yixing began to slowly glide his hands around the entrance and exit wounds. He took a deep breath, felt the life still pulsing through Tao’s body, and called on his power for the first time in almost a year. The warm sensation covering his hands like expensive winter gloves was both familiar and alien to Yixing. Even though the power was part of who he was it had been shut away in the back of his mind for so long even Yixing sometimes forgot what he was.

“What kind of weapons were you two up against? Looks like things got dicey with whatever you were doing,” Yixing commented. Talking helped distract him from the fact that he was trying to save one of his friend’s lives, and right now Yixing had a lot to talk to Joonmyun about.

“Didn’t have time to stop and ask what caliber of guns they were using, but they were definitely using the deadly kind,” Joonmyun said from his spot next to the couch on the floor where he held Tao’s hand.

Yixing felt a pang in his chest, Joonmyun had been like a mother to a lot of the younger guys, especially Tao and Sehun. Seeing Tao in such a state wasn’t easy for Yixing but it must be ten times harder for Joonmyun.

“Joon,” Yixing whispered, “What happened? Why are you here?” Even though his voice was quiet, like Yixing was trying not to startle the other man, there was a brittle quality to it that betrayed Yixing’s own tension.

“Yixing, there’s so much going on that you don’t know about. I tried to keep you out of this for as long as possible, but things have been set into motion that necessitated I find you, Luhan, Kris, and Tao.” Joonmyun averted his eyes, “I really tried Yixing, because I knew the hero life was never what you wanted, seeing us get hurt almost every night hurt you more than you ever told us it did. But I knew, I could see it in your eyes, but I…I was selfish enough to want to keep you around because I wanted you around. But not involving you at this point…it will only get you killed and I will do ANYTHING to prevent that Xing.” As he spoke the last part Joonmyun raised his gaze to meet Yixing’s once again and his dark eyes were burning with the protective fire Yixing had seen only in the field when one of their friends had been hurt.

“You mentioned Kris and Luhan,” Yixing said after clearing his throat and shifting his gaze to focus on the pale green glow of his hands. The eerie light they cast highlighted how pale Tao was, and even once Yixing fixed the wound he couldn’t replace all the blood Tao had lost. The best he could do would be to jumpstart the younger’s body.

“Kris is out grabbing Luhan, once they fly here Minseok is gonna get us all out of here at once,” Joonmyun spoke quietly. Yixing could still feel his eyes on the side of his face, and tried to keep his face expressionless, but then Joonmyun’s words registered.

“Wait, now Minseok is involved too? Joon, you’re gonna have to start from the beginning,” Yixing said his voice slightly raised from his growing bemusement and frustration.  
Joonmyun sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position on the floor, Tao’s pale hand still clutched in his own, “It started about a year and a half ago, I was in Athens and Minseok hunted me down with a proposal.”

*************************

The nippy January air bit at Joonmyun’s nose as he made his routine morning jog around Athens. He had experienced colder winters in Korea, but the Mediterranean summer had spoiled his body. Maybe it’s time I move on, Joonmyun thought to himself, I’ve been here a while and being stagnant can’t end well for someone on the run. Now that the seed had been planted Joonmyun began to think about his next stop as he jogged through the city center of Athens towards the Acropolis. Joonmyun’s inheritance allowed him to set up a nice, temporary life wherever he lands and for however long he sees fit to stay there. Over the two and a half years he had been on the run he had also learned how to anonymously invest his inheritance to keep it at its enviable size, after all he didn’t see the manhunt for him and his friends being called off anytime soon.

Joonmyun was making his usual loop through the area around the Acropolis and thinking about making the trip up to the tourist magnet soon. When he went early enough that the crowds weren’t suffocating the view of Athens from atop the Acropolis was one of the reasons he had stayed in the metropolis for so long. Since he was most likely moving on soon he should really stop by and see it one more time. Joonmyun was running past the gates to the ancient agora when it happened. His foot slipped on a patch of ice on the sidewalk.

Since it was winter Joonmyun wouldn’t have thought much of the patch of the ice except it had been too warm recently for there to be ice. There had also been no other signs of frosty or icy conditions this morning. Joonmyun paused and pretended to be stretching out a nonexistent cramp in his leg as he surveyed his surroundings, his power a restless presence just below his skin.

A lone figure just beyond the gates to the agora caught his attention, the figure had their back to Joonmyun, but they were motionless. Not the kind of stillness someone gets when they are struck by the history of a place that Joonmyun had become accustomed to seeing from visiting Hellenophiles. After Joonmyun had been watching the figure for a few seconds they pivoted slightly on their heel and began to walk further into the agora, a small patch of ice marking the spot they had just occupied.

Joonmyun had pulled his wallet out and paid the entrance fee for the agora before he could give the action more thought. It was slightly before nine A.M. and the agora was as empty as the streets had been so following the figure wasn’t difficult. It gave Joonmyun time to think about the situation.

He only knew one person who could control ice and would seek him out so nonviolently. But why would Minseok need to find him now? Could this be a trap? Joonmyun didn’t like to brag but taking him down would be a major catalyst in the stalemate that had existed ever since their identities had been compromised. It could discourage some of the others, making them easier targets, but it could also inspire others to try and rescue him, a trap that would be simultaneously obvious but a necessary risk for his more heroic friends.  
Which one would Yixing be? A small part of his mind asked. Joonmyun crushed the conflicting feelings the question fostered, he tried not to let them see the light of day most days and right now was not the time to let them out. 

Joonmyun followed the figure through part of the agora up to the Temple of Hephaestus. The area in front of the looming monument was empty minus the man who stood at the edge of the hill the temple sat on top of. The man stood around the same height as Joonmyun, tension was obvious in the slimmer build, but also a sense of easy confidence. The man was nervous, but he was sure he could handle whatever situation this might turn into.

“It’s been a long time Joon,” the familiar voice drifted from the figure to Joonmyun’s ears. Joonmyun marched to stand next to Minseok, not turning to face the man but taking a quick inventory from his peripheral. Minseok had bulked up noticeably in the last few years since they had last seen each other, his hair hung a little longer in the front and was black now instead of light brown.

“It really has Minnie,” Joonmyun said once his casual perusal of the older man was done, “And I expected this reunion wouldn’t happen for many more years. I suppose the unexpected change in schedule is for a good reason?” Joonmyun raised an eyebrow as Minseok turned to look at him head on. 

“We’ve been gone for almost three years Joonmyun, but things haven’t changed. People want to finish what we started, and I want to help them,” Minseok said his voice firm and convicted in a way Joonmyun had never heard from the man.

“I’ve seen the news Minseok,” Joonmyun sighed heavily running a hand through his sweaty hair. The news had been full of amazing acts performed by random citizens, not just in Korea where they had operated but in Thailand, China, Japan, America, Canada, and even Australia. Joonmyun had felt conflicted about the reports. On one hand he had no doubt they inspired these new ‘heroes”, had inspired people to use their gifts to fix the wrongs they were seeing in the world. On the other hand Joonmyun knew where such idealism could lead. He was living proof of how these good intentions could blow up in one’s face. 

“I had the same thoughts you’re thinking right now Joon,” Min whispered and Joonmyun laughed, a hollow, exhausted sound. 

“Then I’m even more confused as to why you sought me out Minnie, you know what I’m gonna say to whatever plan you’re hatching,” Joonmyun gave his older friend a sharp look, “I’m also very interested in how you found me. After almost three years I thought I was pretty good at this whole living under the radar thing.”

Now it was Minseok’s turn to let out a poor imitation of a laugh, “I’m here because i needed to talk to you, because you not helping me with the plan I’m ‘hatching’ is not an option. Which kind of connects to how I found you, or rather how he found you,” Minseok turned as he spoke and Joonmyun followed his lead. 

Two more figures had appeared in front of the intimidating temple, both young males obviously younger than Joonmyun and Minseok. One had dark chocolate hair that sat flat on his head, covering his forehead but not obstructing his small, dark eyes. His lean physique showed some musculature, but his overall impression was soft, his eyes were nervously flitting around the area never meeting Joonmyun’s eyes. He’s nervous, Joonmyun realized and felt a pang of sympathy and his old “motherly” instincts reappearing.   
The other boy had lighter hair that hung longer around his face, almost like the shape of a fortune cookie. His face was still boyish, but Joonmyun could tell he would grow up to be quiet handsome. While the boys stood about the same height the younger one was more defiant, his body seemed to occupy more space than it actually did. He met Joonmyun’s gaze head on as Joonmyun assessed him and even seemed to be assessing him in return. 

“Who are your friends Minnie?” Joonmyun inquired once again facing his old friend.

“This is Joshua and Vernon, they found me actually a few months ago. Joshua here is a psychic of some kind...we’re still figuring it out.” Minseok said gesturing the two boys forward. They approached and Joonmyun realized Joshua was taller than him, and Vernon was almost eye level with him. Up close Joonmyun thought they didn’t look as young as he had first thought, but they couldn’t have been older than twenty. 

“Why would they come looking for you Minseok?” Joonmyun asked turning to admire the view. The boys might think he was dismissing them rather rudely but Joonmyun just wanted to look at something he understood. He understood the view before him, vibrant, green foliage spread out in all directions, with the occasional stones from the agora . The Stoa of Attalos off in the distance to his left, and even further in the distance on his right was the Acropolis. The sky was overcast but the view was enough of a comfort to Joonmyun in that moment of confusion. Because he didn’t understand this situation. He didn’t understand why these people were here, why they needed his help so much. He couldn’t even help the people he had cared about the most. 

“I, well, I had a dream...and a feeling….there was just a lot of things telling me to find Minseok hyung,” Joshua stuttered. His voice was soft and dulcet, the kind of voice that hinted at a talent for singing. “I knew if we found him he could...I guess we were hoping he could help us.”

“Josh is good at...finding things I guess you could call it,” Vernon spoke for the first time. His voice was more substantial than Joshua’s, a confidence and attitude imbuing each of his words and his slumped posture. “This was the first time he had trouble finding something, well someone in this case, so for a while we wondered if Minseok hyung even existed. But Josh insisted, so we kept looking,” Vernon shrugged as if things were that simple for him. 

“Who exactly is ‘we’?” Joonmyun asked already dreading the answer.

“There’s eleven others in our group, Josh found us all and brought us all together. He had dreams and feelings about each one of us so this wasn’t exactly a new experience for us,” Vernon answered distractedly from next to Joonmyun. A quick glance proved Joonmyun’s guess, Vernon was fixated with the view. A small smile curled the edges of Joonmyun’s lips until the younger boy’s words registered. 

“There’s thirteen of you?!” he exclaimed glancing between Joshua, Vernon, and Minseok. 

Minseok chuckled, a real laugh this time, before replying, “They got us beat by one Joon. Surprised the hell out of me too at first, being in the same room as all of them...it’s weirdly revitalizing and... nostalgic.” The last part was said with a wistful smile that lit up Minseok’s face with a familiar light. 

“You still haven’t told me how I fit into all of this.” Joonmyun sighed. No matter how nostalgic Vernon and Joshua made him he was still conflicted about their appearance, with Minseok, in his life. 

“I’ll be honest with you Joon,” Minseok said, his voice determined once again. “Joshua has a lot of these ‘dreams’ about a lot of people out there with powers. They’re confused, lost, alone. I want to make a place for them to come to not feel so alone. A school maybe, where they can learn control and make the kind of bonds we once had.”  
Joonmyun blinked, “Minseok, despite our abnormal circumstances this is NOT a comic book. You can’t just start a school for superheroes, especially when we’re wanted by most of the world. We lay low and live whatever semblance of a life we can.”

“For how long Joonmyun?” Minseok retorted coldly, “What kind of life can we even live? Tracking you was hard even with Joshua because you roam so much. You can’t tell me this is the life you want for yourself. For Yixing.”

Joonmyun winced, “That’s a low blow Minseok. How would you like it if I dragged Jongdae into this?”

Minseok ignored Joonmyun’s words and growled, “Joonmyun if we don’t help them they could end up like us, separated and on the run. This isn’t about raising some kind of army, it’s about helping these people who are lost. If you stopped overthinking for one fucking second then you would realize this feels right.”

“I can’t stop Minseok,” Joonmyun started pacing from the edge towards the temple and back. “Don’t you get it? I was the leader! I failed everyone once by letting Them beat us, and if we do this it draws their attention to us again. We become active targets for them to hunt down again. I can’t fail everyone a second time Minnie.” Joonmyun looked helplessly at his old friend. 

Minseok approaches Joonmyun where he had paused in his frantic pacing and hugged his friend. Joonmyun slowly returned the hug, craving the comfort he had been denied for two and a half years. The comfort that only comes from someone who knows you and your demons because they were there to help you fight them.

“But if we don’t do this Joon,” Minseok whispered into the younger’s ear as they embraced tightly, “then we let down so many more people. Innocent, powered and non-powered, young and old, people from all over the world.”

Joonmyun sighed and pressed his face onto Minseok’s shoulder, trying to block out the situation. He didn’t want to make this decision. He had made so many decisions about his teammate’s fates before and he was tired of it. He didn’t want to be Eomma Joon, he just wanted to be Kim Joonmyun. 

Awkward shuffling of feet on the dirt reached Joonmyun’s ears before the sturdy yet lazy voice of Vernon, “I think we’re all gonna need a beer after this rollercoaster.”

“Drink water,” Joshua’s sweet voice whispered through the air with a levity that indicated it was part of some inside joke Joonmyun was not privy to.

A groan then, “Josh, come on...just...stop.” Then a loud, bright laugh that Joonmyun wouldn’t have expected from soft spoken Joshua. Soon another huskier laugh joined in and Joonmyun understood what Minseok had said earlier. 

With a final squeeze Joonmyun stepped back from his embrace with Minseok, “I just need one thing Minseok,” at the others nod Joonmyun took a breath before saying, “We leave Xing out of this. I know a healer would be ideal for what we’re going to do but I refused to drag him into this unless absolutely necessary.”

Minseok paused and for a moment Joonmyun thought this would be a breaking point until-

-Minseok nodded, “Of course Joon.”

Joonmyun released a breath and felt a slight upward tug at the corners of his lips, “I have a feeling I’m going to need to grab my checkbook for what you have planned Minnie. In which case we better finish this meeting back at mine where,” he threw a smile at Vernon over his shoulder, “I have some nice beers and bottled water we could all enjoy.” 

Vernon’s groan and Joshua and Minseok’s laughter warmed Joonmyun.

Revitalizing and nostalgic indeed, he thought as some sun broke through the gray sky to shine warm, white light in the Acropolis.

**************************

Silence fell after Joonmyun finished his story. 

Yixing was still pressing his hands to Tao’s wound but the skin was mending and he would be healed in a few minutes. The story and exhaustion from using his power clouded Yixing’s mind to the point he didn’t know how he felt or what to say to Joonmyun. 

He wasn’t an idiot, and he’d known Joonmyun well enough and for so long he knew how the man thought. He had tried so hard to protect Yixing and there had definitely been...moments years ago when everyone had still been together. But they had been leaders, almost parents, back then, worried about taking care of everyone else and not on the unspoken feelings between them. 

Ideas rambled around in Yixing’s head, a jumble of thoughts whose conclusion Yixing could feel but not describe in words. The chinese man focused instead on his patient. Tao’s body had begun regenerating the blood it had lost, and although the wound itself was now a thin scar, Yixing wouldn’t be comfortable until he could give Tao a transfusion.   
When you had powers transfusions were not easy.

Even if the blood types matched there was something about mixing the blood that lead to disastrous outcomes. The first time they had attempted it with Kris and Luhan the receiver, Luhan, had been sick for weeks after. They had been hesitant to try a transfusion again but when Suho had been in critical condition and needed a transfusion Yixing had been forced to test his theory.

His powers had to have a genetic basis, coding for proteins that enabled him to heal others. So if he transfused his blood with those ‘healing proteins’ then they should stimulate regneration comparable to Yixing using his power. And it had been. Suho didn’t get sick and made a full recovery, and so Yixing became the sole blood donor for their group.

“Xing, are you okay? You can turn it off now Xing,” a smooth voice was whispering in his ear. With a jolt Yixing realized he had fallen from his position hunched over Tao’s body on the couch. Yixing’s thin nightshirt did nothing to block the feeling of two warm, defined arms wrapped around his torso, and the hot body pressing against his back. 

“I-I, uh...what happened?” Yixing murmured as he felt the warmth fade from his hands only to spread throughout his body, from his head to his toes. 

“You started muttering about blood, proteins, sick, then you just kind of collapsed. You’ve done this before you know,” Joonmyun murmured. Even though his words weren’t anything special the quiet tone they were spoken in conveyed a more intimate meaning. “Based on past experience I’m guessing Tao will need a transfusion of your blood. Minseok should have the equipment for us to do that so now we just need Kris and Luhan to-”

BangBangBangBang.

“Guys open up! We gotta go NOW!” Kris’s gravelly voice yelled from outside the front door. Yixing tried to stand to answer said door but his legs were unstable and he ended up falling back into Joonmyun. Not a terrible place to end up, he thought giddily to himself as his lethargic body melted into the warm body once again blanketing his. Although his hands were no longer glowing Yixing still felt warm inside, but disconnected from his body. It was similar to being drunk but not the excited, happy drunk. This was like jumping to the sleepy drunk that sets in as a wild night comes to end and even a hard floor is an acceptable bed.

The clicking from the front door drew the pairs attention once again back to the front door as it was thrown open to allow Kris and Luhan to stumble in. Both men were covered in dirt and had random pieces of leaves and branches in their hair and clothes. 

“We had to get creative with the flying to avoid our persistent friends,” Kris said darkly once he noticed the looks they were getting, “Unfortunately we all couldn’t be getting cozy with our longtime crush in a relatively safe apartment.”

“Shut up Kris,” Joonmyun muttered as he pulled one arm from around Yixing’s waist, the loss made Yixing want to pout until he was the center of Joonmyun’s attention, to make a call on his phone. “We got all the chicks. Repeat, we have all the chicks.”

“I don’t know whether to be angry at the sudden interruption of my life or at the fact that our codename is apparent;y ‘chicks’,” Luhan spoke for the first time. He approached Yixing and crouched down until he was eye level with the other man, feeling his face and checking his pulse to make sure his old friend hadn’t over-exerted himself. Yixing gave Luhan his drunk, loopy smile and Luhan felt an answering smile forming on his lips. 

The peaceful moment was ruined by the sound of a large group of booted feet pounding towards Yixing’s open front door. Luhan threw his hand out and the door slammed shut just as the first signs of the all black figures became apparent. 

“When exactly is this getaway ride supposed to get here Joon?” Kris asked. He had moved to stand by the arm of couch where Tao’s head was rested, the tall man’s hand was paused mid-run through the unconscious boy’s blonde hair.

“It shouldn’t take long but Luhan we’ll have to keep our uninvited guests occupied until Kris can get Tao and Yixing through the portal.” Joonmyun said as he rose. Yixing, who had slipped into semi-consciousness, weakly reached for the warm body walking away but loud noises outside his door made him flinch back. He curled into a ball on the floor by the couch muttering about warmth and stupid rich boys which almost drew another smile from Luhan despite their circumstances. Almost, but not quite. 

THUD. Something large and solid rammed into the front door, THUD, on the second hit the door started to splinter. Without any verbal communication Joonmyun and Luhan exchanged a look and got to work. Luhan moved any available furniture in front of the door to create a barricade and Joonmyun turned on the faucets in the kitchen and the bathroom. He blocked the drain so the water would fill the sinks providing Joonmyun with his weapon of choice. 

“I hope that’s your portal Joon or we’re about to be in a lot of trouble,” Kris said pointing at the corner of the living room. A sparking circle had formed and was slowly growing, increasing its diameter until it was about the size of a dinner plate.

“For once we’re lucky, that is our getaway car,” Joonmyun said, his hands clenched at his sides as he stood next to a sweating Luhan. 

“Good,” Luhan grunted a single drop of sweat slowly sliding down his handsome face, “Cause holding these bastards back is hard.” 

The sound of more banging continued to fill the tense silence, Joonmyun and Luhan focused on the front of the apartment while Kris moved Tao and Yixing closer to the still growing portal. An image was beginning to become visible inside the growing circle, a white room and one figure with extended arms raised above their head. 

Water began to overflow in both of the sinks and Joonmyun pulled two balls of water from them, one to hover over each of his hands. Luhan let out quiet grunts next to him, more beads of sweat dripping down his face and neck to disappear underneath the collar of his shirt. The sound of breaking wood cracked through the room like lightning. Then nothing.

Eerie silence from outside the apartment put Joonmyun and Luhan even more on edge than the hectic noise earlier. The portal, now as tall as Kris, was more solid and the room on the other side was becoming clearer with every second. Another minute at most and we’re home free, Joonmyun thinks his body so tense he could cramp up at any second.   
As Joonmyun breathed out the stillness of the moment was broken as a wave of bullets pierced through the barricade into the room. Reacting with a speed honed by years of practice and the inherent survival instincts of all living beings Joonmyun threw up a water shield. It wasn’t large but he tried to focus it to cover himself and the three figures behind him. The shield slowed the bullets enough so when they pierced through to the other side they fell to the floor soon after. 

A quick glance out of the corner of his eye showed Luhan had handled the hail of bullets with a wall of telekinetic energy. Unfortunately this left the barricade unsupported for the brief moment their attackers needed to finally break through. Luhan dropped the bullets and jumped into the offensive. The first all black figure was picked up and thrown back through the hole he had used to enter. In a heartbeat another figure had taken his place and was laying down cover fire to distract Joonmyun and Luhan so more of his friends could enter the battle zone. 

“Joonmyun hyung!” a familiar voice pierced through the chaos of the moment, “We’ve got the others through!”

“I’ll hold the shield, guide us out of this goddamn mess,” Luhan growled. His dark eyes were fierce and focused on the dozen figures standing before them, guns trained on the pair. Joonmyun wasn’t about to argue with the older man when he was in battle mode like this. He might have been the leader but he was willing to take the orders when the situation called for it. Like now.

Joonmyun took up position behind and slightly to the right of Luhan so he still had a view of the room. He took hold of Luhan’s shirt and began to slide them backwards toward the corner where he knew the portal waited. All twelve guns went off rapid fire without one word from any of the masked figures. 

With an angry scream Joonmyun hadn’t heard in four years Luhan’s shield blocked them after only a few feet and the bullets clattered to the floor. If Luhan had been in his former fighting shape he would have been able to stop the bullets and use them against the enemy, but none of them were in that shape anymore. Four years of trying to lay low required using their powers sparingly and like any muscle that isn’t used their abilities atrophied to their current state. Joonmyun knew it had been a necessity but right now he really wanted to punch past Luhan for doing it. 

“Joonmyun!” Kris yelled, almost right behind him. 

A second wave of bullets was released from the guns and made it halfway across the room before Luhan could stop them. A third wave followed almost immediately, and before that wave was done a fourth was being unleashed. 

Then, two beams of colorful energy rushed past the escaping pair from behind and right into the mess in front of them. In one moment Joonmyun saw most of the bullets heading towards them obliterated by the white and purple energy bolts. They pierced through the opponents they hit and continued through the destroyed barricade and front wall of the apartment. Joonmyun saw his one chance and took it.

He leaped backwards pulling Luhan with him. As they flew through the air it was like being caught in Tao’s Slow Zone. That one second seemed stretched out for an eternity. The bullets that hadn’t been destroyed by the energy blasts hit targets all over the room, splintered wood, feathers, and glass shards saturated the air around them. A brief burning pain on his left shoulder let Joonmyun know he had taken a flesh wound. A pained cry from the man in front of him hurt worse than his own wound. 

Dark red began to spread on the grey nightshirt Luhan wore. 

Joonmyun felt his failure acutely. Yixing was exhausted after healing Tao but now Luhan would need his help. Because Joonmyun had failed again. 

I will get you bastards back for this, Joonmyun thought as his back collided with cold, white tiles. 

The next few seconds was just as jarring as coming out of the Slow Zone, everything was moving too fast. Luhan was picked up from where he had landed on Joonmyun’s legs, the portal snapped closed with a poof, voices were yelling, and a familiar face appeared above him. 

“We can take care of your telekinetic friend,” Vernon said before helping Joonmyun to his feet. The boy had grown since Joonmyun had seen him last, he stood a couple inches taller than Joonmyun and his boyish, young Leonardo DiCaprio looks had matured into a uniquely handsome face. 

“Tao needs a transfusion, we have to hook him up to Yixing,” he said dazedly to the younger man. He nodded, and lead Joonmyun from the white room where chaos continued with quiet promises of how his friends would be okay.

Despite the boy’s noble efforts Joonmyun couldn’t be satisfied. We’re not gonna be okay until we get everyone back, he thought, Kyungsoo, Jongin, Sehun hang in there. We’re coming for you as soon as Josh finds you guys.


	6. Artificial Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update on time this week! (Pats self on back) I tried my hand at writing a 'mature' scene in this chapter so let me know what you guys think!

Chapter 5:

Jongin and Sehun were excellent strippers. After all they had been dance majors in university and knew they were attractive. They were on the run and in need of a way to make cash when they could barely speak English. Four years ago it made sense for them to strip, and now they continued doing it because, well, they enjoyed it. 

Sehun was stepping off the stage, a smile plastered on his face, “That was a thirsty crowd tonight,” he chuckled. He ran his hand through his sweaty black hair, and a towel hit him in the face.

“You threw in a little freestyle at the end so don’t act like you weren’t feeling it,” Jongin said from where he sat on the floor. Even though he had been on stage right before Sehun he had already changed into his street clothes and was ready to leave. 

Sehun smirked and wordlessly continued to the changing room where he stripped off the very little clothing he still had on and put on his ripped jeans, t-shirt, and jacket. He grabbed his backpack and made his way back to Jongin who was now leaning against the wall, focused on his phone.

Curious, Sehun peaked over his roommates shoulder and smirked, “Contemplating making the booty call?” He made overly dramatic moaning sounds right into Jongin’s ear to annoy him even more. 

It worked.

“Shut up!” Jongin exclaimed his face darkening noticeably in his trademark blush. The dark skinned man knew his friend wasn’t about to drop it now that he saw how much he had gotten under his skin. Jongin knew it was ironic that he worked as a stripper but was still awkward about casual hookups (read: relationships in general).

The text in question had been for one of their coworkers who had expressed repeated interest in Jongin should he ever want a casual fling. He had been rewriting a text to said coworker while he waited for Sehun, but he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to send it at all. He was just horny.

Ever since Sehun and him had arrived in America he had come a long way in accepting his bisexuality, and Sehun had even admitted he might be gay. Although the string of men his friend had slept with then discarded said he was more than ‘might be’, but Jongin was willing to let his friend have his delusions. 

“Come on Jongin, I’m sorry for giving you a hard time but you should go for it. Ryan seems like he’s not into any weird kinky shit and you need a way to let loose. How long has it been since you got laid?” The silence lasted so long Sehun turned his signature bitchy, unimpressed face on the teleporter.

“So did you see that new security guard? He barely looks old enough to be able to get into the club let alone keep the assholes out.” Jongin stated casually hoping Sehun would see his discomfort and let him change the subject. After a few seconds of quiet observation Sehun let out a resigned sigh and made his own comment about the new guard. 

The walk from the club to their New York apartment wasn’t terribly long, and once they stopped discussing Jongin’s sex life it seemed to fly by. Once they made it through the door they both fell onto the relatively nice couch in the small living room. In true New York style their apartment was small, but they had a functioning bathroom, separate rooms, and a semi-clean kitchen so they didn’t complain.

Sehun laid his head in Jongin’s lap, “I made breakfast so are you cooking or are we ordering takeout? We can call that Chinese place and I’ll flirt with the delivery guy to get a discount.” Jongin grunted his agreement and ran his hand through his friend’s hair. The mindless action always made him feel better even though said hair was still slightly damp from sweat. 

After Sehun placed their order, with a heavy dose of over-the-phone flirting, he hopped up and declared his need for a shower. Left alone in the living room with only the sound of the running water Jongin’s mind drifted back to Sehun’s question.

How long has it been since you got laid?

The answer would probably surprise Sehun, it would surprise almost their entire group. Jongin had broken up with his last girlfriend, Krystal, over a year before their heroic activities blew up their lives. He hadn’t minded the break up at the time, more free time to go on patrol and hang out with his friends. But after a while Jongin realized he was missing something, not his ex but something with someone who he was more comfortable with. He had been attracted to all his former girlfriends but he had always hidden part of himself from them. The part of him that could teleport to a places miles away with a single thought. 

It was one late night celebration that had shown Jongin exactly what he wanted.

**********************

“Real Love!” Baekhyun yelled into his microphone that was also his phone.

“I think I wanna just gomingomin hajima, Hey!” Jongdae yelled into his own phone-microphone as he stood on the couch. 

The pair took a breath before screaming in harmony, “era moreugessda! I love y’all!” The drunken cheers of their peers encouraged the equally intoxicated duo. They repeated the chorus leaning heavily on each other now, and Jongin briefly wondered when Baekhyun had moved from his spot glued to Chanyeol’s side to stick to his fellow 92 liner.  
Before he could spend any real amount of time thinking it over he felt a small but firm body lean into his side. He glanced quickly over and saw a flash of pale skin, impossibly large brown eyes, and perfectly pouty pink heart lips. Jongin grabbed for his cup and took a gulp of the liquid within, the burning sensation as it migrated down his throat kept his mind from less than appropriate thoughts. 

Their motley crew had had a particularly rough run in with their newest evil counterparts (they had taken to calling them Super Junior because they were technically EXO had formed first). They came out with a great deal of cuts and bruises but victorious nonetheless and they felt the need to celebrate. So they cracked open the alcohol they had ordered from the US (moonshine it was called) since it was the only drink they found that, when consumed in a short enough amount of time, could get them drunk. Finding such a drink had been a mission of Minseok’s ever since he was old enough to realize alcohol never affected him the same way it did others. His success a few months ago was met with cheers from almost their entire roster, so now everyone chipped in monthly to keep the drink in stock.

They had discovered quickly that Baekhyun and Jongdae became singers in their drunken state, but they had good voices even when they were screeching so the other boys let them perform. But after a while the pair always grew tired of being the only entertainment and inevitably roped one of the other members into some shenanigans. 

As Baekhyun and Jongdae began marching around the living room to rub their theatrics into the faces of their teammates they eventually ended up zeroing in on Jongin. They pulled him up, away from the bliss he had found pressed against a certain older man, and forced him to join them in the last part of the song. 

“Girl,” BaekDae yelled, still somehow in harmony, “I wanna get down!”

They looked expectantly at Jongin and his recent taste of the moonshine had him loose enough to yell back, “Era moreugessda! Era moreugessda! Era moreugessda!”

“Girl I wanna get down!” The recently formed trio yelled with dramatic swings of their arms to highlight the skill of their performance. As the song disappeared from the air and the words died on the tongues of the performers a rowdy round of applause erupted from the nine other men sprawled all over the living room. 

“Encore!” Luhan cheered as he waved Sehun’s arms around like a crazy fan at a soccer game after their team has scored. 

“Please, no more!” Sehun moaned even as a smile tugged at his lips at Luhan’s childish actions. He had hardly moved from his spot on the floor in front of where Luhan sat on the couch, and his mood only seemed to go up as Luhan began to hug and hang off him as the moonshine flowed more freely. 

“I know just what the encore performance needs,” Baekhyun smirked devilishly as he reached once more for Jongin who had been trying to make a quiet but quick exit from the spotlight. “A private performance by our very own Kim Jongin! Pride of the dance department!” The shorter man proclaimed wrapping his arms around Jongin’s neck from behind. 

“Yes! Show us your legendary skill!” Tao yelled from the corner where he had put himself to pout in private when Kris refused to go take a shower with him. At least Jongin is fairly certain those were the words he was trying to say, his slurring made it difficult to be sure. 

“No, come on guys,” Jongin whined trying to free his neck from Baekhyun’s choke-inducing iron tight grip unsuccessfully. 

“Let loose a little Jonginnie!” Sehun called as he leaned back between Luhan’s now open legs, the pretty older boy still hanging off the younger. Jongin made a mental note to mention to Luhan how Sehun had made a picture of Luhan asleep on the couch his phone’s wallpaper. Teach the younger man a lesson about embarrassing his elders. 

While he had been fantasizing about his plans for revenge the rest of the group had taken up a chant of, “Let loose!” with clapping interspersed between. Jongin felt his face heating up as he tried to find one sympathetic face among the traitors that used to be his friends. Instead he was once again entranced by newly dyed red hair with the sides shaved, and a heart stopping smile. Of course after seeing that smile Jongin was going to do anything to keep it on the other’s face, even give in to the annoying duo BaekDae.  
Jongin looked around the room but now looking for inspiration, something to get his creative juices flowing. He saw two canes propped next to the front door and felt an idea beginning to form in his mind. Revenge might be his sooner than he had hoped for.

“I’ll give you guys a show,” he said raising his hands in surrender, “I just need a little help from my lovely assistant Oh Sehun.” Jongin watched as Sehun opened his mouth to reject until Luhan was pushing him forward. The younger man took one look at the smile on Luhan’s face and Jongin knew he was as unable to say no as Jongin was. Reluctantly Sehun moved until he stood next to Jongin, ignoring the hoots and hollers from their teammates. 

“So, what exactly are we performing?” Sehun asked with an arched eyebrow. 

Jongin smiled, “I’ll grab the canes, you know what to do.” Sehun’s eyebrows shot up, and he gave Jongin a considering look before smirking and pulling out his phone. As Jongin moved to grab the canes they had been using to practice this routine for their class Sehun shuffled the ten other men onto one couch. There were people sitting on the floor, the back of the couch, the arms, and even a couple sitting on laps. 

After a few minutes the two newest members were standing in the middle of the living room facing the others. Jongin grabbed an abandoned cup nearby and drained the moonshine, then he nodded at Sehun and the music started. 

Earned It by The Weeknd filled the room, and the pair began to move. They had been practising for a while and both knew the routine was sexier than anything their friends had seen them do before. At first they leaned on the canes, their bodies swaying and rolling to the melody. They did a few tricks spinning the canes. Jongin tipped his head back as he crouched and moved his body from side to side, feeling the beat of the song throughout his body. The killing point was approaching and he sought out the face that had inspired the show. He found it still seated on the floor, watching just Jongin like it was a private show.

Jongin felt hot. The alcohol burned his insides, the heat of the crowded room burned his skin, and his blood was beginning to heat up a certain southern region of his body. Those eyes were still locked with his. The pupils were dilated, shrinking the chocolate irises until they were almost non-existent. Jongin wanted to look into those eyes as his hands ran over the pale skin of the small body, his dark skin stark against the snowy flesh. 

He imagined the raspy moans he could ring from those pink lips, swollen from his urgent kisses. Because it would be urgent, a desperate coupling one year in the making. Every discreet glance in the dorm when skin showed, every charged touch when fighting enemies at night, the tension that filled the mundane moments of their daily lives. 

Jongin moved his hand up his body and he watched the eyes disengage from his and hungrily follow the motion. His raised the cane and let it slide through his fisted hand back to the floor, taking a moment to run his own hungry gaze down the body seated before him. He moved the cane until its hook linked with Sehun’s and the two leaned back pulling the canes taught. Their upper bodies rolling while their hips made sinful circular motions before unhooking their canes and preparing for the killing finale.

Jongin gracefully slid down onto one knee, rolled his body a few times, then slid the other to the floor so he was straddling his cane. He felt his body moving, rolling against the cane, practically humping it as he gazed once more into twin abysses. Sliding on his knees the cane moved from between his legs to his lower back as his body continued to roll sinuously. Jongin wondered briefly how his body would move when he was at the height of pleasure, straining and begging for the last bit to reach ecstasy. 

The final few moves were a blur, and the next thing Jongin knew he was standing, panting and leaning once more on the cane. The others were cheering, whistling, making suggestive faces, except for two. But Jongin only had eyes for one of the faces.

The noise level rose once again but Jongin only partly noticed it, everything else seemed dulled and far away. Except those eyes. Finally Jongin realized those eyes weren’t far away because he had moved to sit in front of them. Although they weren’t touching the heat of the nearby body felt like a physical touch. 

“That was a great performance,” Kyungsoo said in his deep, sonorous voice. Jongin loved his voice, and felt blessed every time he was able to hear it. 

“Thanks,” Jongin said and couldn’t believe how breathless his own voice was, “We’ve been practicing it for a while.” 

“It showed. What made you think to use canes so...creatively?”

You, his mind shouted, youyouyouyou!

“I guess I just wanted to show off,” Jongin gulped, “for this person I like.”

A raised eyebrow, “That’s a lucky... person,” Kyungsoo rumbled emphasizing the last word meaningfully. His voice had gotten somehow deeper and Jongin loved it.

“I think I would be luckier if they ever liked me back, but I’ve never been that lucky,” Jongin whispered. He swore he felt the space between their hands, on their knees, pulse with something. Jongin wanted to peel his shirt from his skin, he was so hot it stuck unpleasantly to him. Even though he should be coming down from his performance high he wasn’t, if anything he had risen to Mount Everest heights. That would explain why I can’t breath, he thought distantly.

“I think you’re luckier than you think Jongin,” Kyungsoo drawled. Jongin felt his heart pounding all the way in his toes, but all he could think about was getting Kyungsoo to say his name again.

“You’re pretty lucky yourself,” Jongin whispered staring into Kyungsoo’s eyes earnestly. He waited a beat, then two for the man to react in someway. Kyungsoo leaned forward, his adorable nose brushing against Jongin’s cheek. He felt his dick roar to life, because apparently with Kyungsoo even his cheek was an erogenous zone. 

“I’m pretty tired, you know fighting villains and taking midterms. Of course after such a rough run-in none of us should be left alone,” Jongin felt Kyungsoo’s smirk as his lips brushed against his ear. “I don’t suppose you’re tired too? Keep me safe while I walk all the way back to our place?” Jongin nodded so fast he felt something tweak in his neck, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him.

“Hey Joonmyun,” Kyungsoo called to their leader, “I’m exhausted and Jongin here has had a little too much to drink so we’re gonna head back to ours.” Jongin heard Joonmyun make some noise of acknowledgement and as Jongin followed Kyungsoo out of the apartment he saw their leader curled intimately with Yixing in a corner. A lot of the guys had broken off into pairs and were having surprisingly quiet conversations, too engrossed to notice Kyungsoo and Jongin leaving. 

Jongin followed Kyungsoo into the hall of the apartment building and next door to the apartment they shared with Joonmyun, Sehun, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun. Apparently it used to be Joonmyun’s alone but as the apartment next door filled up they had turned some rooms in Joonmyun’s into bedrooms.

The sound of the front door closing behind him snapped Jongin from his thoughts. He was alone. In the apartment. With Kyungsoo. Who had just indirectly admitted to liking him...he thinks.

Jongin cleared his throat, “How tired are you?” he inquired quietly. 

Kyungsoo walked to stand right in front of Jongin, his chest bumping against Jongin’s as they breathed and whispered, “None at all.”

Jongin leaned down and crushed his lips to Kyungsoo’s. The older man gasped when Jongin’s hands found his distracting butt and squeezed. Jongin took advantage of the opportunity and thrust his tongue into Kyungsoo’s mouth. Their tongues battled for control of the kiss, the battle setting Jongin on fire. Kyungsoo was strong, he was a force of nature but if Jongin squeezed his butt just right he moaned so erotically. They sank to the floor in the living room, hands ripping open shirts and jeans to reach hot skin. 

“Jongin...mmmm,” Kyungsoo moaned hands fisted in Jongin’s hair and tugging slightly. Jongin moaned in response before attaching his mouth to the chest before him. He sucked and licked and moved across the expanse of skin presented to him. He pressed his hips down roughly against Kyungsoo’s drawing beautiful gasps from the man. Black lines on the beautiful skin drew Jongin’s attention to Kyungsoo’s lower stomach, right above his right hip bone, the strange symbol with wings and teeth entrancing him. He leaned down and traced the tattoo with licks and nibbles, feeling every shutter his actions caused. 

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo gasped his hands in his hair pulling, begging. Jongin slid back up the body under him, sealing his lips against Kyungsoo’s once again. The battle for control was over, Kyungsoo whined into Jongin’s mouth as his hips thrust up. The hands still in his hair pulled harder, delicious moans and whimpers went straight to his dick. 

“Kyungsoo…” Jongin whispered raggedly as lips sucked at his collarbone. Hot hands pushed his shirt off and gripped his bare flesh tightly. Jongin knew there would be bruises but the thought aroused him. He moaned, unable to form words to describe how Kyungsoo was making him feel. The hands, impossibly, tightened, pinching the skin they held in an even more arousing manner.

With an animalistic growl neither knew he was capable of Jongin ripped his body free of the mouth and hands fogging his mind. He kneeled between Kyungsoo’s legs, staring down at the debauched mess of his teammate. There were kiss marks all over the pale chest, his lips were red and swollen, his dark eyes barely cracked open as his chest heaved. 

Jongin felt drunk. Not because of the moonshine, sadly his body had already burned through the alcohol, but because of the man lying before him. Kyungsoo knew Jongin like none of his previous lovers, he knew who Jongin was and Jongin knew exactly who Kyungsoo was too. Jongin wanted to scream from the rooftop, tell everyone how pure these feelings he had for Kyungsoo were. 

“Ah!” Jongin groaned as a wandering hand gripped his half-erect cock and squeezed. The grip was riding the thin line between pleasure and pain but Jongin would expect nothing less. Someone was trying to tell him to get his head back on track. It would just be rude to ignore such a polite request wouldn’t it? With a smirk Jongin leaned forward and pulled Kyungsoo’s pants halfway down his legs. His eyes widened, because Kyungsoo had gone commando and his fully erect cock was now right in front of Jongin’s face.

Jongin wasted no time, licking a line from the base of the dick to the tip. The salty taste of precome made Jongin smile evilly, and he blew on the line he had just created. Kyungsoo arched his back, losing his grip on Jongin’s cock, but the chocked whimpers he made more than made up for the loss of touch. Jongin continued to slowly lick the arousal in front of his, playing with the older man. His touches were light and only worked Kyungsoo up more instead of pushing him towards completion. 

“I...stuff, in... room,” Kyungsoo gasped and Jongin looked at him again. The poor man was a wreck. His cock slick, red, and swollen, every muscle in his body tensed and glistening from sweat, and his bottom lip bleeding slightly from a too hard bite. Jongin nodded and with a puff they fell onto Kyungsoo’s bed. 

****************************

“JONGIN!” Sehun yelled in his face, startling the teleporter so bad he teleported to his room. Sheepishly he walked back to the living room where Sehun was laughing his ass off.  
“Idiot,” Jongin muttered his face heating again for the second time that night. 

“You were so out of it! The delivery guy came and you didn’t even move! You’re lucky I was getting out of the shower in time to hear it,” Sehun said with a broad smile. Jongin finally noticed his friend was only wearing a towel, his black hair damp from his shower. Sehun looked hot and Jongin could only imagine how the poor delivery guy had reacted when that greeted him at the door. 

“Whatever, just give me the food,” Jongin grumbled marching towards the plastic bags he saw on the table by the couch. He was just glad his roommate hadn’t caught him with a boner thinking about an ex. 

 

Jongin strolled the club floor the next night actively trying to not think about Kyungsoo. But everytime someone gave him a suggestive look or wanted a lap dance all he could think about was big, owl eyes. Fucking dumb ass Sehun, Jongin thought sourly as his roommate performed on the stage. He had managed to move on from Kyungsoo a year after their group disbanded, but now all of that had been dragged back to the surface.

Jongin and Kyungsoo had technically never even dated, Jongin had been struggling with his sexuality and Kyungsoo had never tried to define their relationship. They were friends, roommates, teammates, and whenever they felt like it, lovers. And the felt like it alot. How they had managed to hide their fling from their friends for several months before their identities were compromised is beyond him. Even though the relationship wasn’t defined Jongin knew he had deep feelings for Kyungsoo, and had even thought they could go into hiding together. Then Kyungsoo left in the middle of the night without a goodbye. 

Jongin’s heart had broken. Honestly if Sehun hadn’t seen he was such a mess and followed him when they all split up Jongin doesn’t know what would have happened to him. In America, a fresh start with his best friend had been the dream, and for the most part of the last four years Jongin had managed to more or less live that dream. 

“Kai,” someone said tapping Jongin’s shoulder. Jongin tuned to find one of his coworkers, the man who was responsible for his current inner turmoil, Ryan. 

“What’s up Ryan?” Jongin asked trying to keep the anger from his voice. The man had no clue what had happened last night and was probably the last person Jongin should be blaming right now but a small part of him couldn’t seem to stop. 

“There’s some guy at the bar asking about Sehun, said they used to know each other back in Korea. Wanted to see if you could okay the guy or not.” Jongin followed Ryan’s gaze to the bar on the far side of the main floor, at first glance he didn’t really recognize anyone but then a familiar face turned around. 

“I have to tell Sehun,” Jongin muttered just before he took off for the back room. He made it just as Sehun was coming off the stage, his body glowing with a layer of sweat and glitter. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Sehun said without preamble once he saw Jongin’s face. There was no humor in his voice, the reality of their lives leaving them aware how likely it was for ghosts to appear. 

Jongin gulped, now that he was face-to-face with his friend he didn’t know where to start. The man you were hopelessly in love with but could never confess to because your childhood kind of fucked you up is up front asking for you just doesn’t roll off the tongue.

“Jongin, please say something. Do we have to make a break for it?” Sehun inquired. His body was noticeably tense and Jongin imagined his wasn’t any better.

“Sehun, I’m going to tell you something and I need you to be reasonable,” Jongin finally spoke. Even as Sehun nodded urgently Jongin had a sinking feeling his friend was going to be anything but reasonable. He opened his mouth anyway, “Luhan is at the bar. Asking for you.”

Sehun stood motionless for so long that Jongin wondered if it was just an air illusion standing before him. He was both relieved and distressed when Sehun finally moved. The younger man rushed past Jongin towards the front of the club before Jongin could think to stop him.

“Glad to see you acting so reasonably,” Jongin grumbled as he turned to chase after Sehun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing the dance scene gave me such a great excuse to watch the artificial love dance repeatedly :)))). Hope you enjoyed this chapter! My semester is almost over so after next week the uploads may not be as reliable until last week of May/first week of June


	7. You're Gonna Regret This....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last of the chapters I have pre-written and I have exams in two weeks so I might squeeze out one more post before then but if not the next post probably wont be until early June :( But I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far! Comments and kudos appreciated!!!

Chapter 6:

It can’t be, it can’t be, it can’t be, Sehun thought as he, literally, breezed through the club. The wind cocooned and carried him with almost no effort on his part. All he could think was that it couldn’t possibly be Luhan at the bar asking for him. Yet there was no way Jongin would make such a mistake, let alone tell Sehun about it if he wasn’t one hundred percent sure. Finally he made it to his destination by the stage and froze.

Standing at the far end of the bar was Luhan. He was in all black and the hood of his sweater was pulled up but Sehun would recognize the small bit of his face that was visible anywhere. Jongin’s voice echoed in the back of his mind, telling him to be reasonable. This could be an imposter, and even if it wasn’t Luhan waouldn’t be hunting him down after four years to confess his undying love. He should go back to Jongin and they should come up with a plan, and probably more than a few backup plans.

Sehun was turning his body around to do just that when Luhan saw him. Those large, deer-like eyes were always Sehun’s downfall. Before he could think it through he was halfway across the room, and Luhan was walking towards him. 

“Sehun, I’m so glad I found you. We have to go, things are going to shit. We need to find Jongin and find somewhere to lie low until things calm down.” Luhan spoke in a rush as he closed the distance between them.

“Luhan...what do you mean things are going to shit? Have you heard something from the others?” Sehun asked his head buzzing. He wanted to hug Luhan like he used to, curl up on the battered couch in the apartment and watch random funny videos, or get boba together again. 

“There’s no time to explain, they could find me at any minute. We have to go now Sehun,” Luhan pressed urgently. He grabbed the younger man’s wrist and tried to tug him towards the front door of the club.

“Luhan, I’m barely wearing anything,” Sehun protested ripping his arm free. “At least let me change first,” and if it bought Sehun time to figure out what to do then even better. Sehun might have missed Luhan but a part of his brain was remaining rational. Luhan didn’t know Jongin was here, should Sehun tell him? What could be happening to cause Luhan to hunt him down like this? There were too many unknown factors in Sehun’s head for him to make any rash decisions.

“I have a couple change of clothes in my car, you can change in there.” Luhan insisted his eyes constantly scanning the club. 

“My things are still backstage, important things Luhan,” Sehun fibbed. Jongin and him tried to not have much of anything in case they had to leave quickly. 

“Fine, let’s grab your things then get the hell out of Dodge,” Luhan growled marching towards the back of the club. 

When they made it to the door leading backstage the guard refused to let Luhan pass pointing silently at the “Employees Only” sign by the door. Luhan growled, and Sehun wondered when this aggressive streak had started. Sure sometimes Luhan was a little easy to rile up but he was never so flat out hostile before. 

You didn’t use to sleep with guys, a part of him whispered, it’s been four years, people change a lot in four years.

“Don’t worry Lu,” Sehun said placing a calming hand on his friend’s shoulder like he used to, “I’ll run backstage and be back out in no time then we can go.”

Luhan didn’t relax at Sehun’s touch or his words, but nodded tersely. Sehun hesitated, he could tell Luhan to hell with his stuff and run off with him right now. Just him and Luhan, catching up and ‘lying low’ together somewhere. It almost sounded like Heaven to Sehun. But Sehun had learned that usually when someone was offering you Heaven there was always something Hellish lurking in the shadows. He walked through the door.

“I’m glad you were actually able to keep your promise,” Jongin said. He stood only a few steps in front of the backstage door, his arms crossed and his shoulders tense. He had changed into his street clothes and Sehun suddenly felt like a teenager caught coming home right after their curfew. 

“No honor in breaking a promise,” Sehun grumbled. 

“Well it’s a good thing you did, cause some people showed up after you ran off that you might be interested in meeting,” Jongin indicated behind him with his head. 

Sehun realized there were three people in the shadows behind Jongin and his breath caught. One of the faces wasn’t familiar, dark hair, a mix fo Korean and foreign features, maybe an inch shorter than Sehun. The other two were more than familiar faces, one was Baekhyun, his usual smirk in place as he stared at Sehun’s ‘uniform’. And the other was Luhan.

But this Luhan was pale. It was almost imperceptible, but Sehun was more than familiar enough with Luhan’s face to know when something was off. There was a light sheen of sweat around his hairline and one of his hands was pressed tightly to his side. He was leaning back against the wall, and when he tried to push off it he grimaced and flopped back into place.

“What...what’s going on? Jongin?” Sehun turned to his best friend who was now stadning at his side. Jongin placed a calming hand on Sehun’s lower back and rubbed small circles. Sehun’s body untensed slightly but his mind was more knotted and messy than headphones you just pulled out of your pocket.

“That person out there is isn’t Luhan, we think its the shapeshifter. They’re trying to capture you and Jongin if they find out he’s here too. We have a plan, but we would need you to play along,” Baekhyun said also stepping forward to stand on Sehun’s other side. Sehun looked down into the dark eyes emphasized by a small amount of eyeliner, the typical serious-Baekhyun style. “If you don’t believe us quite yet thats understandable, thats actually a really smart move, and we saw it coming. So, we brought something to help convince you,” Baekhyun continued as he looked up at Sehun.

The unknown third person of their trio stepped forward and handed Baekhyun a slip of paper which Baekhyun passed to Sehun. Sehun looked at the paper whcih turned out to be a photo. It was all twelve of them, cramped onto the couches of Xiumin, Kris, and Luhan’s apartment. Sehun was slightly to the right of the center, Luhan sitting on the back of the couch, his legs on either side of Sehun’s body and his arms wrapped around his neck. Luhan’s chin rested on top of Sehun’s head and the younger boy remembered taking the photo, the happiness of being surrounded by his family, being safe and together. 

A bite on his shoulder ripped Sehun from his hazy memories of the day forever encapsulated in the photo. He glanced down once again at Baekhyun who reached over and flipped the photo, revealing one word etched on the back in extremely familiar handwriting: EXO. 

In one moment Sehun finally realized why his encounter with the first Luhan had seemed wrong, he hadn’t used their secret code. No mention of EXO, he didn’t mention taking Sehun to get bubble tea while they were in hiding, he was too agressive. The Luhan standing by the backstage door waiting for him was nothing but a poor, poor imititation of the real deal.

“So are you onboard for the plan?” Real Luhan asked. Even his voice was strained and showed his weakened state. Someone had hurt him recently, and if Sehun was a betting man he would bet it was the same people who had sent Fake Luhan to deceive Sehun. The people who had been hunting them for four years, the people who had forced them to break apart, ruining the happiness they had found as a group. 

“I’m so fucking down for whatever you guys have planned.”

 

Sehun walked through the door leading back to the front of the club, now dressed in his street clothes, and Luhan couldn’t help but be a little sad about both of those facts. With everything going on he hadn’t had an adequate chance to oggle the incredibly toned body on display. There was also the fact that they had just sent Sehun back out alone to face an imposter who no doubt was loaded with weapons and had orders to being Sehun in, dead or alive. 

A sharp pain flashed through his side and Luhan bit back his grunt of pain. It was only about a day ago that Luhan had been shot escaping from Yixing’s apartment. The younger Chinese man had barely been able to mostly heal the wound after he had woken up. In fact, almost immediately after he healed Luhan Yixing had fallen back into unconsciousness. Last Luhan had heard Joonmyun hadn’t moved from his bedside.

With Yixing, Tao, and Jongdae all out of commission Luhan had felt the need to volunteer to come on this mission for Sehun and Jongin. Xiumin was needed back at his...school? Luhan was still unsure on what exactly the set up was. Kris and Joonmyun were constantly in the medical room looking over Yixing and Tao. Chanyeol had wanted to come, be Baekhyun’s backup, but his large frame wasn’t great for quiet, covert extractions. Even though everyone had their objections for not wanting Luhan on the mission he had stubbornly insisted on completing the trio. 

For completely selfish reasons of course.

Luhan would never admit that the thought of seeing Sehun again had warmed his chest. A sensation he had been lacking for the past four years. Memories of afternoons spent in one of the two apartments, sipping bubble tea, laughing, talking, and studying were never far Luhan’s mind during their separation. He had known that Sehun had wanted to go with him when they all broke apart, had secretly wanted it as well, but he had also been terrified. 

Sehun was bratty, snarky, occassionally disrespectful, but he was also cuddly, kind, and funny. Luhan’s heart never stood a chance. But Luhan had issues, and a side he had never allowed out around Sehun. So he disappeared, in the dark of night like the coward he was. And now their lives were once again in danger and Luhan was going to have to find some way to smooth things over with Sehun.

“Lu,” Baekhyun whispered as he shook Luhan’s shoulder. Luhan jumped slightly which caused his side to twinge painfully and Luhan had to bite back another pained groan. He looked over at Baekhyun with narowed eyes hoping his look conveyed his displeasure with the younger man.

“What?” He snapped rubbing his side where the still healing bullet wound was. 

“Since we’re about to engage with a hostile I figured you should be using the piece of meat in your skull. Not the one that wants to see Sehun in his ‘uniform’ again,” Baekhyun snarked back. 

While Luhan had been mentally checked out Jongin had teleported their quartet to the roof of the club where they had a good view of the surrounding area. A parking lot behind the club seemed the most likely spot for their target’s getaway car. Any second now Sehun and the imposter would walk out and Luhan had to be ready to fight. He needed to be focused, level headed, and just overall battle ready. He took a steadying breath, he had insisted he come on this mission so he couldn’t disappoint. 

“I just don’t understand how you know everyone but Jongin is compromised if you haven’t talked to them,” Sehun’s voice floated up to the four figures on the roof. Sehun and the imposter had used one of the back exits that lead them right into the back parking lot. Their hunch had been right. Luhan felt his heart pick up speed as the time to fight steadily grew closer. 

“I saw them take the others, I always got there too late. But I won’t let them take you Sehun,” Luhan heard the words spoken in his own voice. He gritted his teeth, someone had tried to deceive Sehun with his face. Luhan swore he was going to make them pay for this.

“I...Luhan, what are you…” Luhan barely heard Sehun’s soft spoken words from the roof. He glanced down and spotted the pair, stopped between two cars only a few feet away from the back of the club. The poorly lit back parking lot prevented Luhan from making out exactly what was happening but he saw the shorter shadow, the imposter, had his hand on Sehun’s bicep. 

“Sehun, there’s so much I wanted to tell you four years ago. Feelings I never had the nerve to tell you about, but not anymore. Once we get out of here and find somewhere safe I’m going to explain everything. After all, with only the two of us we’re going to need something to pass the time.” The last sentence was spoken in a sultry voice Luhan never remembered using. Even worse the imposter had slid the hand from Sehun’s bicep to his chest. His other hand had slid up to caress Sehun’s face.

Luhan saw red.

He leapt off the roof without another thought, calling on his powers to cushion his fall to the concrete. His anger threw things off slightly, and Luhan’s landing was rougher than his beat up body wanted, but he was still too angry to notice. Once his feet hit the ground he threw his hand out, a blast of energy heading straight for the imposter touching his Sehun. 

The blast hit the imposter and sent him flying, right into the hood of a nearby car. Sehun, although not hit by the blast, was close enough to be knocked off balance by the attack and fell back. He glanced over at Luhan as he approached, both of his hands clenched.

“You’re about to regret being born,” Luhan growled as he stalked closer to the imposter. When he was only a few feet away the fake leaped to his feet and swung at Luhan. The jab landed squarely on his left cheek. Luhan stumbled back a few steps, handing going instinctively to his face. He glared back at the imposter who was smirking at him. It was incredibly disocncerting to want to punch his own face.

“Too bad, I was hoping to at least have a little fun with this one first. Did you see him in that ‘uniform’?” the imposter waggled his eyebrows and moaned suggestively. Luhan saw red again. This time when he threw his next attack it was much less accurate. The blast grazed the imposter’s side but mostly hit the front end of the car behind him. The car’s lights started flashing and the alarms went off. 

Luhan cursed quietly, now they had to finish this up very soon or someone would see them. The growing smirk of the imposter told Luhan he had been played, and his urge to strangle the imposter increased ten-fold. Before he could try and send out another attack Luhan felt a breeze stir around him. 

The imposter’s hair began flying wildly and his eyes widened, hands going to clutch at his throat. He dropped to his knees and after a few seconds hie eyes rolled back and his body fell to the concrete. Luhan looked back to see Sehun, the fingers of one of his hands twitching as he controlled the air around them. Luhan had rarely seen him employ this tactic, it usually only worked on a stationary target which were hard to comeby on a chaotic battlefield. More importantly, using it made Sehun uncomfortable, because if he accidentally overdid it he could cause major brain damage to his target.

“So when I said we could surround him and force him to give up you heard, go rogue and start a fight? Good to know those listening skills improved so much,” Baekhyun called from the roof. With a pop! The three other members of their group teleported down next to Sehun.

“I’ll get started on our portal,” the quiet boy, Vernon Luhan remembered hearing someone call him, said. While the spark show started Luhan turned and dragged the unconscious imposter over to the growing portal. When he dropped the dead weight Baekhyun pulled some rope from the backpack Vernon carried and began tying the imposter’s hands and legs together. The rough treatment drew a moan from the lump as it began to shift. 

“You’re gonna fucking regret this,” the imposter groaned. 

“Doubtful,” Luhan scoffed kicking the legs of the imposter. Vernon had almost fully opened the portal, Luhan just hoped no one came out to check on the car alarm still blaring.  
“If anything happens to me, you can kiss unlucky number twelve goodbye,” Imposter said, his voice stronger now as he came fully back into consciousness. 

Everyone froze once his words registered, “What the fuck did you say?” Baekhyun growled a ball of light glowing from between his clenched fingers. 

“You heard me,” the imposter lifted his head and smirked at Luhan once again with his own face, “The last member of your little rag tag group? The short one with the best set of lips I’ve seen? We have him, and if my boss gets upset he won’t be receiving the VIP treatment.”

Luhan felt his heart rate slow, everything seemed to solidify into painful clarity. Sehun, on his left who was looking at Jongin over by Vernon. His entire body was tense, fists clenched, eyes dark and wild. Even though Jongin’s ability was by no means the most offensive he had dedicated time to creating a unique fighting style that utilized his unique level of mobility in battle. And looking at Jongin now Luhan knew even if he didn’t know Jongin he would know this man was pissed off and dangerous. 

On the other side of the portal from Jongin and Vernon was Baekhyun. His illuminated fist hanging at his side, his face blank. This was when Baekhyun was most dangeorus. When he pushed his emotions aside and his sole focus was taking down his enemies, even Chanyeol was slightly afraid of this Baekhyun. 

“Luhan, get this fucker through the portal. Give him the ‘VIP’ treatment,” Baekhyun said his eyes still locked on the imposter. Not needing another invitation Luhan focused, and with a flick of his wrist the imposter lifted off the concrete and flew through the portal Vernon was keeping open. The younger boy was beginning to sweat, and Luhan remembered that over the last day or so he had opened a ridiculous amount of portals. The kid must be exhausted, Luhan thought with a momentary pang of sympathy for the younger boy.

“Bakehyun…” Jongin growled, body still tensed and ready to fight.

“Not tonight Jongin,” Baekhyun said as he turned, about to walk through the portal, “Tonight we regroup. The eleven of us stick our heads together, get intel from our captive, and then we take the fight to those fuckers. And, when we do, we’ll save Kyungsoo.”


	8. Bittersweet Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I survived finals! I may have had to make a deal with the devil to do it but beggars can't be choosers lol. Hopefully now that I'm on vacation I can go back to regular updates. Sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 7:

All Jongdae could feel was his throbbing head. 

“Shit,” he groaned hands grabbing his pounding temples. He tried to crack his eyes open, but as soon as the light hit his eyeballs they were on fire.   
Fire...Rocky dude...ice, all at once Jongdae remembered he should most likely be dead or someone’s prisoner at this point. He was going to have be very careful with his next move, it would be best to fake sleep and see what information he could eavesdrop. As long as no one was in the room to have seen him moving around he should be able to pull it off. Jongdae waited a few seconds, holding his breath. No sounds indicating someone else in the room. Jongdae thought he was in the clear until-

“Glad to see you’re finally awake,” a pleasant voice spoke up from Jongdae’s right hand side, “Don’t bother trying to pretend to be asleep, I’m literally in your head right now.” On second thought the voice most likely belonged to the Devil himself.

With a deep breath Jongdae forced his eyes open. Bright, white light assaulted him once again and made his eyes tear up. Gritting his teeth Jongdae took a quick survey of the room, white walls, white floor, medical equipment set up against the far wall. He glanced down, someone had changed him from his gear to pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt. Jongdae tried not to think about how creepy it was that some stranger had seen him almost naked while he was passed out. 

After a moment of Definitely Not Thinking About It Jongdae shifted his attention to the younger male in the room. At least Jongdae was pretty sure they were a male. Long hair framed a small, delicate face that was so angelic Jongdae almost blushed just from looking at it. 

“Dont worry alot of people have the same thought when thye first meet me. Are they a guy? Or a girl? They usually figure it out for themselves when they notice this,” a casual gesture towards their neck drew Jongdae’s attention to the presence of an Adam’s apple. One mystery solved. 

“Alright, well that doesnt help me figure out who you are and why I’m here,” Jongdae said. The more they talked the stronger Jongdae felt, but he wasn’t about to try and fight his way out of here without knowing where ‘here’ was. 

“My name is Yoon Jeonghan, and you are currently in our infirmary. You took quite a hit to the head in that burning house, and we wanted to make sure you didn’t inhale too much smoke. We kept you sedated for a full day then you slept for almost another full day. I’ve been told you should expect some dizziness and nausea when you start walking around. Hopefully that wont hinder you in your attempt to fight your way out of here,” Jeonghan smirked when he said the last part. That angelic face was starting to look an awful lot like a target, one well placed bolt and it wouldn’t be smirking anymore. 

“We’ve solved two mysteries now but theres still one very important one: whose infimrary is this?” Jongdae snapped. 

“I think there’s someone who is more than eager to answer that question for you, and all the subsequent questions that answer will cause.” Jeonghan reached behind his back and pulled out a cellphone, and with a few quick finger taps he began speaking to someone.

Jongdae briefly entertained the idea of making a break for it now, but there was still too much he didn’t know about what was waiting for him outside this room. A glance from Jeonghan gave him the impression the angelic devil knew the thoughts going through Jongdae’s mind and he was getting really tired of it. 

“Alright I’ll bring Sleepy Beauty to the conference room and you can fill him in boss,” Jeonghan said before hanging up and shoving the phone in his pocket. “Follow me and you shall find all the answers you seek,” Jeonghan said with a dramatic sweep of his hand. He stood up from the chair he had occupied and walked across the room to a white door that had blended in with the rest of the white walled room. 

Who is this kid and where do I sign up to never talk to him again? Jongdae thought to himself as he rose stiffly from his hospital bed. At first his muscles refused to operate normally and as a result he had to waddle out of the room after Jeonghan. Who knew getting my ass kicked by a man made of stone in a burning building would leave behind stiff muscles? 

The hallway they entered was almost a complete one-eighty from the sterile, blinding room they had just left. The dark oak hardwood floors shone with the natural light that spilled in from the large windows on both sides of the hall. The walls were grey and covered in pictures. From floor to ceiling, covering the space between the windows, were photos of various sizes, black and white, or colored. In every photo there were smiling faces, males and females ranging from teenagers to around the same age as Jongdae.

“We call this HOI,” Jeonghan said as he paused a little further down the hall, “Hall of Infamy. Every time something stupid or awesome happens the culprits put their pictures in this hallway. Some people get a little overzealous, hence the abundance of pictures.”

“You seem to make an awful lot of appearances,” Jongdae observed as he noticed a sixth picture with the long haired devil-angel. Based on his behavior Jongdae was starting to think devil might be a more accurate, and succinct, description.

“I guess you wouldn’t be surprised to find out I have a bit of a reputation around here,” Jeonghan replied with a toothy grin. Jongdae could practically see the horns sprouting from underneath the long locks.

Jongdae opened his mouth to respond but he stopped when his eyes settled on one specific photo. It showed a younger boy who resembled a young Leonardo DiCaprio grinning in front of a large mansion-like building. What made Jongdae freeze was the older male he had his arm around. The hair was longer and messier than Jondae remembered and was dyed pitch black and he wore round Harry Potter-like glasses. But Jondae could never forget those dark, cat eyes. Even after four years the memory of those eyes was as fresh as it ever was in Jongdae’s mind. 

Slowly some of the pieces were beginning to fall into place in Jongdae’s mind. Rage and confusion swirled around in his head. He was pretty sure he knew who he was on his way to see, and he could hug them, or he was equally likely to zap them. 

 

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

 

Minseok felt nauseous. 

He was in the basement of the hospital wing of his school surrounded by people he had missed for four years. But the scene wasn’t complete. News of Kyungsoo’s captivity had greatly reduced the joy they had all felt with the return of Sehun and Jongin. 

“So are we gonna get the origin story of this place soon?” Luhan asked from where he sat on one of the beds. Yixing was checking the stiches on the telekinetic’s wound, apparently the encounter with the shapeshifter had reopened it. Yixing was still in no condition to use his abilities so he had to use more traditional methods. Minseok thanked whatever cosmic force had lead that man into the actual medical field so he wasn’t solely reliant on his power to heal others.

“We’re just waiting on Jongdae. His room was just a couple floors above us so he should be here any minute,” Joonmyun said from where he sat next to Minseok. 

“I don’t care what this place is or how Minseok started it. We should be trying to find Kyungsoo, and the shape-shifter is our best chance at that.” Jongin said from across the room where he had been pacing for almost half an hour straight. Sehun sat on the floor nearby, halfway between the pacing Jongin and Tao’s hospital bed. 

Minseok glanced at the youngest Chinese man. He wasn’t ghostly pale anymore but he was still on bed rest until Yixing recovered enough to fully heal him. Yifan sat in the chair next to the bed, the same place he had remained ever since they had arrived at the school a little over one day ago. The tall man was curled uncomfortably in the small chair, but he never complained. 

“If we want any chance at getting Kyungsoo back we need everyone back at one hundred percent, that means we need to be patient,” Minseok said with meaningful glances at Luhan and Tao.

“We also need certain people to keep their hands to themselves,” Tao whined from his bed, “If they keep being handsy in front of me I might be sick.” Minseok bit back a chuckle as he glanced at the couple Tao was calling out. 

Chanyeol had taken up residence on a third hospital bed in the room while Baekhyun and the others had been out retrieving Sehun and Jongin. Almost as soon as they had returned Baekhyun had walked right up to the bed and curled up against the taller man. Occasionally hands would grab certain body parts and the eight other people in the room politely pretended not to notice. There were also a few loud make out sessions everyone awkwardly raised their voices to cover. Last time it happened Joonmyun had gotten up and closed the curtain around the bed with the guilty parties. The looks on said parties faces when they emerged told everyone they were not the least bit repentant either. 

“I thought I saw a ghost so I need Yeollie to comfort me,” Baekhyun whined right back, “I’m sure you can understand Tao.” Chanyeol chuckled as his partner clung tighter to his body. Baekhyun threw a leg over Chanyeol’s waist and one hand strayed rather far down his torso to rest just above the top of his jeans. 

“Kiddies don’t fight,” Minseok said even as a small smile broke out on his face. Things weren’t like they were four years ago but some things would never change, and right now those things were helping Minseok keep his head on straight.

At least they were until the door to the large room slide open. Standing in the doorway was Jeonghan, his arms crossed and lips quirked in the way that usually told Minseok he was planning something new to get another one of his pictures in the HOI.

“I brought your guest, as requested,” Jeonghan said in his sweet, chirpy voice that he usually used to mask his true demonic intentions. He stepped aside and revealed Jongdae who had been hidden behind the slightly taller boy.

Minseok felt his heart skip a beat like some middle school girl at the sight of his old friend. Even in pyjama bottoms and a white shirt he was the hottest thing Minseok had seen. His physique seemed even better than when they had been heroes in Seoul. His hair was darker but wasn’t in the upward swept style that he had favored four years ago, and it was longer than it had been a year and a half ago when Minseok had last run into Jongdae.

Well, ‘run in’ was a bit of a stretch. More like Minseok had been watching Jongdae from behind some bushes. Some people may call what he was doing ‘spying’ but that came with a negative connotation Minseok was not comfortable with...no matter how spot on it might be. He remembered that night perfectly.

 

********************** 

 

It was a chilly night in London but Minseok had never been bothered by the cold anyway. He wore pants and a jacket to avoid standing out but they were hardly necessary.

“You know I can hear you,” Jeonghan grumbled from next to Minseok as he burrowed deeply into his scarf. 

“Yes, and I know you could take control of my mind and make me do something embarassing as revenge. However, you know that once you’re done doing that I would make all of your training for the foreseeable future hell on earth,” Minseok responded with a grin. Jeonghan might be a special kind of trouble maker but Minseok was older and used to dealing with troublesome younger friends.

“Can we continue this conversation later? Perhaps when we aren’t freezing our behinds off,” Joshua pipped up from behind the bickering duo. Minseok looked back and laughed at how little of Joshua was actually visible. His cap was pulled down and scarf pulled up to cover most of his nose so only his eyes were weren’t covered. The pyschic was a native of Los Angeles and in the few months since Minseok had known the younger man he had realized he lacked any tolerance for cold weather. 

“How much farther Josh?” Minseok asked dropping the previous topic. 

“It should be just around this next corner,” Joshua said pointing to the turn ahead of them with his gloved hand, “There’s a cafe about halfway down that street, he should be standing outside.”

Minseok’s heart started beating double time and his hands started fiddling with the photo in his jacket pocket. He wasn’t sure if the photo alone would convince Jongdae that Minseok was who he claimed he was but he felt better bringing it. He had brought it when he met with Joonmyun a few weeks ago in case their former unofficial leader needed convincing. The conversation had gone better than he had anticipated, despite Josh’s assurances things were going to work out, so the photo seemed to be his good luck charm.   
“Why don’t you guys go find some food? Let me talk to Jongdae,” Minseok suggested just before they turned the corner. Jeonghan opened his mouth to argue, unsuprisingly, but Joshua elbowed his friend and nodded. When Minseok turned the corner the younger pair kept walking straight, Joshua pulling a whining Jeonghan. 

Minseok proceeded down the street until he saw the Starbucks he was looking for. Jongdae was the first person he saw among the typical Starbucks storefront. He was sitting at a table out front, his back facing the front of the store. He was looking at his phone but Minseok noticed the quick glances he took to survey his surroundings. He might look relaxed but he was on alert which caused a wave of fondness to swell in Minseok’s chest. 

Jongdae had always been paranoid, and being on the run probably only made him more so. Minseok used to find this quirk adorable, that and hearing him whine were somehow incredibly endearing to Minseok. One time he had secretly recorded Jongdae when he used his famous catchphrase, “Ah Wae!”, when he was being made fun of by some of the others. He had made it the younger’s ringtone until the man in question found out and whined at Minseok until he changed it. If he had stubbornly refused to change it at first so he would continue to be pestered then that was no one else’s business. 

Minseok realized he had been standing still, staring at Jongdae and smiling like an idiot. He shook his head and went to approach the man when someone else beat him to it. It was a handsome man, roughly the same age as Jongdae with wide shoulders and the impression of a well built body underneath all his layers. Reacting instinctively Minseok ducked behind some bushes that lined the front of the store next to the Starbucks. He peaked over the top of the bushes and saw the man had sat next to Jongdae, close enough their knees brushed under the table as they talked. Minseok watched as the unknown man leaned closer to Jongdae and they shared a small smile. 

Minseok felt his heart constrict. He hadn’t even realized until that moment how much he had hoped that by recruiting Jongdae to help him start this school that something else would also begin. Something just between him and Jongdae, something that had always been a thought in the back of his head. Years ago the idea of telling Jongdae about these thoughts had seemed like too much of a gamble. It could destroy their friendship, their teamwork, it could have gotten someone injured or even killed. 

Now that risk seemed trivial. They were all constantly in danger of being captured or killed and even if Jongdae turned him down they at least weren’t living together anymore. Except Jongdae seemed to have already moved on. Did Minseok have the right to mess with that? 

“Thank you so much agreeing to this,”Jongdae’s voice said much closer than it should have. Minseok peeked through the bush and saw the couple were standing a few feet away from the bush. 

“I’m glad I could help you. If everything works out maybe we can see more of each other?” the deep voiced stranger replied his hand on Jongdae’s elbow. Minseok saw his friend glance down at the hand, up at the stranger’s face, smiles, and then blushed. Minseok had seen Jongdae in several embarrassing situations and the man had never blushed that hard.

Minseok plopped onto the ground behind the bushes in defeat. He stayed there as he heard Jongdae and the stranger walk their separate ways. He remained there for several minutes after they were gone. Why wasn’t he chasing after Jongdae now that he was alone? Was he really not going to reach out to his friend if they couldn’t be more than that? Minseok knew how much being a hero had meant to Jongdae and that when they had to give it up he probably took it the hardest. He had a chance to bring his friend back into that life, to give him that happiness back. But the image of Jongdae, smiling and blushing at a random man, made Minseok think that might not be the case. He didn’t know how his friend had changed in the two and a half years they were apart. What if he had outgrown being a hero? What if he had outgrown Minseok?

“Our leader is hiding behind some bushes with a face like a kicked puppy so I’m guessing things didn’t go well,” a familiar voice said. Minseok glanced up and saw Joshua and Jeonghan standing on the sidewalk eating ice cream and looking down at him. Jeonghan was visibly trying to hold back a smirk but there was also pity in his eyes which was probably why he wasn’t invading Minseok’s mind at the moment. 

Minseok stood up while brushing off any grass that clung to his jeans. Looked like his pity party was being cut short. Then again maybe that was a good thing, the path Minseok’s mind had been going down could only lead to bad decisions. If Jeonghan was feeling bad for him Minseok didn’t even want to look at Joshua, no matter what he saw on the psychic’s face it wouldn’t make him feel better. 

“We need to call Vernon and get to our rendevzous point. Him and Seungkwan should be done with their errand by now. The longer we’re out here the greater the risk we draw the wrong kind of attention,” Minseok said in what some of the others called his Boss Voice. 

“They should be almost back at the meet up spot but we should still call to let them know we are too,” Joshua said. Jeonghan nodded, pulled out his phone, and began dialling. Minseok nodded at the boys and began to walk back the way they had come earlier. When he heard Joshua and Jeonghan fall into step behind him he felt better than he had a few minutes ago. Jongdae may have been growing but Minseok was too.

 

***********************

 

“Jongdae!” a chorus of voices called out in greeting. The sudden noise was enough to pull Minseok from his memories. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had untagled themselves, partially, from their grope fest to cross the room and hug their old friend. Sehun, Yixing, and Joonmyun were not far behind. 

Minseok stared at the scene taking place before him. The group by the door were smiling and hugging and even Luhan, Tao, and Kris were grinning faintly. The noise in the room increased as greetings and insults were called out in equal amounts. Laughter painted the hospital room walls until they were the same beige as their old apartments in Seoul. The hospital beds were the ratty couches they spent hours on studying, talking, eating, basically doing anything and everything they could. 

For one fragile moment it was like looking through one of Vernon’s portals into their lives four years ago. 

“It’s a nice picture, having everyone together like this,” Jongin said standing beside Minseok. When the teleporter had moved so close he had no idea but then again Jongin had always been good at being sneaky when the need arose.

“Yeah it is,” Minseok replied his voice rough with emotion.

Jonging looked down at him and Minseok met his eyes, “But we’re still not all together,” he said quietly. The desperation and worry in the younger man’s voice made Minseok feel like he was being stabbed in his gut with one of his own ice spears. 

“Minseok, I think it’s time we fill everyone in,” another voice pulled Minseok’s attention from Jongin to the group by the door who are now all staring at him. Joonmyun spoke again, “Everyone has to be on the same page if we’re gonna stand any chance of saving Kyungsoo.”

Minseok took a deep breath, better to just rip the band aid off after all, “Well, it started about two years ago when Joshua hunted me down. He just knocked on my apartment door one day and basically recited my entire life story to me. We talked for hours that day while he tried to prove he meant me no harm. Suffice it to say that at first I was not exactly...welcoming at first. He said he had been dreaming about me for months, he saw my childhood, saw us working in Seoul, saw me starting this place. I wish I could tell you guys that I didn’t trust him at first but after that first day...something in me did. He introduced me to the rest of the crew he had assembled and seeing them all together made me feel...like I was supposed to help them I guess.”

“How exactly does this kid’s powers work? He has dreams?” Kris asked from his vigil next to Tao’s bed. 

“Its...complicated,” Minseok hesitated and glanced at Jeonghan who had made a space for himself in a corner.

“Josh does have dreams of the past, present, and future. He gets visions when he’s awake, he has premonitions and clairvoyance. Sometimes he just knows things, like the information just manifests in his mind. I’ve known Josh for years and I’m no closer to fully understanding what his power is so we’ve just taken to calling him psychic,” Jeonghan finished with a shrug. 

“So this pyschic kid just showed up and you believed everything he told you?” Chanyeol asked in disbelief. 

“There was just something about the information he knew...it wasn’t exactly stuff that was common knowledge,” Minseok defended. 

“And as I recall you guys took even less time to trust Seungcheol and Vernon,” Jeonghan remarked with one eyebrow arched.

Baekhyun opened his mouth to no doubt defend himself and Chanyeol but Minseok hurried to stop that disaster from happening, “Point is, I did trust Joshua and the rest of the group after a while. Starting a school to help people learn control of their powers started sounding better and better. I debated if I should bring any of you in on this,” Minseok glanced at Jongdae out of the corner of his eye, “but I assumed everyone had carved out some kind of life for themselves. Figured I didn’t have the right to mess with any of that.”  
“But there was one of us you roped in,” Yixing said with a pointed look at Joonmyun. Minseok smiled, looks like someone was in the dog house. 

“Yes, this endeavor was going to need funding so I knew we had to get Joonmyun’s help for this to be successful. Actually hunting him down proved to be difficult, even for Joshua. Everytime Joshua got some kind of lead Joonmyun was gone by the time we got there. But once we did find him I convinced him to help us with the funding.”

Joonmyun cleared his throat, “I agreed with Minseok that bringing you guys into this would just put you guys back into danger. We knew not everyone would appreciate it,” now Joonmyun glanced at Yixing pointedly, “so we decided the two of us would run this. I supplied the money to get this operation off the ground, we were able to get a good amount of acres in Montana to build this school. While that was happening we lived in trailers on the property and started...well essentially we started recruiting. Joshua gets dreams about people with powers all over the globe, so with Vernon’s help we started travelling to find them. Over the years we’ve recruited people from several countries, people our age to barely teenagers, people with powers similar to some of ours and some who can do things we never imagined.”

“Did Joshua have dreams that we were in trouble? Is that how you knew to come find us?” Luhan asked.

Minseok nodded, “Kind of, a few weeks ago Joshua began having nightmares. He said there was someone in his dreams, and he was terrified of them. In his dreams that person was watching you guys, trying to hurt you. Then it started haunting him during the day too, the person was always watching him. Eventually we decided it was time to close ranks, and that included finding everyone.”

“Joshua thinks the person is another psychic whose been watching him and looking for you guys,” Joonmyun said. “Ever since we started the school we’ve kept it physically and mentally shielded but this psychic seems to be able to link up to Joshua and bypass the shields. Everyone on campus with mental abilities agrees that when Joshua has his nightmares or visions some outside entity...” Joonmyun paused and glanced at Jeonghan who was feigning nonchalance in the corner before continuing, “We think that if the pysichic ever catches Joshua unshielded and unaware they can not only hurt him but use him to find this place.” 

“So why would they come after us? Its been four years, we all thought they had forgotten about us,” Sehun asked. 

Minseok shrugged, “We think it was a trap to lure me and Joon out of hiding, or they were trying to find hostages to force us into revealing ourselves.”

“So what you’re saying is that they’re expecting us to come after them to save Kyungsoo?” Jongin asked and the room became completely silent. No one wanted to look anyone else in the face because everyone was coming to the same conclusion: Kyungsoo was the bait in a very large trap meant for all of them. “We can’t just abandon him,” Jonging continued as the silence went on, “You know they’re going to do terrible things to him. If we don’t save him they’ll probably just kill him eventually because their trap didn’t work.”

“Some of us might not be ready to jump back into the line of fire Jongin,” Chanyeol said quietly. He had his arms around Baekhyun like the other man was the only thing keeping him grounded. 

“Bullshit Chanyeol,” Jongin yelled, “If it was Baekhyun in danger you would already be out there! Ready to burn anything and anyone who got in your way until they were nothing but ashes!”

“Yes Jongin I would!” the tall man exploded. “And I have! I’ve been in that state of mind and it’s a dark place! I paid the price to get out of it and I can’t just jump back in! Not even for one of you.” He began pacing the large room, his long legs eating up the space like it was nothing. “You don’t know what you’re asking Jongin. We had a happy life in California and if we go back to this then its over!” All at once the fight seemed to drain out of Chanyeol and he whispered brokenly, “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

Chanyeol turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, eleven sets of stunned eyes watching his retreating back.


End file.
